#AskTDS: “I am about to renew my tenant's tenancy, how will it affect the tenancy deposit?”

For many landlords, the idea of having long-term, reliable tenants who are keen to renew their tenancy is one they’d be happy with as it takes the hassle away from having to look for new tenants and rebuild the relationship. 

TDS Northern Ireland (TDSNI) provides two types of deposit protection scheme: Custodial and Insured. If the deposit is protected using the Custodial scheme, no action is required as the deposit funds are held by scheme until the end of the tenancy when either party related to deposit requests its return. Confirmation will be requested by the parties to how it is repaid. 

If the deposit has been protected using the Insured scheme, then some action is required.  In this scheme, the deposit is protected for the fixed term tenancy. Once the fixed term tenancy has ended, the protection must be renewed on a fixed term. If the tenancy is to continue on a periodic basis, then the Insured protection can be updated as periodic to reflect the tenancy. 

Material changes within an Insured deposit protection must be updated to reflect the tenancy; a change in tenants, change of address with the same landlord, or a change in deposit amount protected will require a new Insured deposit protection. 

TDS Northern Ireland will issue pre-populated Prescribed Information and a Deposit Protection Certificate reflecting the tenancy information. The Prescribed Information along with the scheme leaflet must be served within 35 days. 

Although it can be difficult to get your head around, our expert customer operations teams can offer help and advice. If you are still unsure about whether you need to re-protect a deposit, legal advice should be sought. 

You can find more information about TDS Northern Ireland here.