Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) deposit management (UK only)

Owned by Fiona Wilson, created
Last updated: Jan 08, 2024
9 min read

This guide has been reviewed against our global client base and classed as relevant to UK only

In accordance with the UK Housing Act 2004, every landlord or letting agent that takes a deposit for an assured shorthold tenancy in England & Wales must protect the deposit under an authorised tenancy deposit scheme

The TDS Deposit Management functionality in Reapit provides the following:

  • Once a deposit is cleared in Reapit, details of tenancies marked as being part of the Deposit Protection Scheme are automatically transferred to the deposit management tool

  • The tool allows deposits to be registered with the TDS

  • When registered successfully, the deposit certificate is generated and downloaded to Reapit - where configured, an option to email certificates to landlords/tenants is also available

  • Updates in Reapit to tenancy start/end dates and/or deposit amount for tenancies with a registered deposit are automatically flagged in the deposit management tool, allowing new certificates to be regenerated and uploaded to Reapit

  • When a tenancy ends and the deposit returned, this is automatically flagged in the deposit management tool, allowing the deposit to be deregistered

This integration is only applicable when using the TDS Insured Scheme

This guide covers:

What is the TDS?

The Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) is a government approved tenancy deposit protection scheme in England & Wales operated by The Dispute Service Ltd

Established in 2003, TDS is the longest serving government-approved deposit protection scheme and is also the only not-for-profit scheme

TDS provides both insurance-backed & custodial tenancy deposit protection, with free, impartial dispute resolution for when disagreements arise over how the money is divided

Make a deposit ready for registration with TDS via Reapit

For tenancy details to be automatically added to the TDS deposit management tool, the following conditions must be applied to the Reapit tenancy record

1. Held by setting on tenancy record

From tenancy:

  • Click Financial & Extensions tab

  • Held by needs be set to any of the following:

    • Us - stakeholder

    • Us - landlord’s agent

    • Held by must be set to Deposit Protection Scheme

2. Deposit paid & cleared

From tenancy, Accounts panel:

  • Beside Deposit, click Manage

From tenancy deposit details:

  • Deposit Paid should be fully paid and marked as (Cleared)

  • Deposit Protection scheme selected must be named TDS

3. Ensure tenant contact details are correct

When the tenant & landlord contact details are passed to the deposit management tool, the following information is checked for validity

  • Postcodes

  • Email addresses

  • Phone numbers (should be 11 digits)

Access TDS deposit management tool

From Reapit main menu (on left):

  • Click Reports

  • Click Custom Reports and select TDS Bulk Deposit Tool
    The TDS Deposit Management screen is displayed

Access tenancy details

To view the associated tenancy of any entry in this screen

  • Double-click to open the tenancy record

Or, the tenancy details can be previewed from the same screen

  • Right-click over the required entry and select Preview tenancy

  • Tenancy details are displayed in a read-only screen

Register a deposit

When a tenancy deposit meets the conditions outlined in the section above titled Make a deposit ready for registration with TDS via Reapit, it will be automatically displayed in the TDS Deposit Management screen

1. Select deposit(s) to register

From the TDS Deposit Management screen:

  • Ensure the Register/Update Deposits tab is displayed (top left)

  • Deposits needing to be registered are shown with the TDS Process status of Register

  • Tick the boxes to the left of the relevant deposits to be registered

2. Process selected deposit(s)

From top right of screen (shown above):

  • Click Process

  • Click Yes

3. Registration complete

The deposit registration run is processed and confirmed when complete:

  • A status message is shown bottom left of the screen as each registration is completed

  • The entry is shown with a green tick to the left

  • Click OK to continue (or View Details to see more information)

Download deposit certificate

The steps in this section show how to generate the deposit certificate & download to the Reapit tenant deposit screen

Where configured, this process can also email the certificate to the tenants and/or landlords

1. Select certificate(s) to download

From the TDS Deposit Management screen:

  • Click Check Status / Download Deposit Certificates tab (top left)

  • Any tenancy deposits whose certificates have already been sent via the Register/Update Deposits tab (but not downloaded) are displayed with the TDS Process status of Download Certificate

  • Tick the boxes to the left of the deposits where you wish to download the certificate to the tenant deposit screen

2. Process selected deposit certificate(s)

From top right of screen (shown above):

  • Click Check Status

  • Click Yes

3. Email options (where configured)

An option to email the deposit certificate to all landlords and/or tenants is offered
If your system does not offer the option(s) shown in this section, this can be configured by Reapit Support

  • Click Yes to generate the relevant emails

4. Certificate download complete

When the deposit certificate download is complete:

  • A status message is shown bottom left of the screen as each certificate is downloaded

  • Successful downloads are shown with a green tick to the left

  • Click OK to continue (or View Details to see more information)

5. Deposit certificate in tenancy deposit screen

From tenancy, Accounts panel:

  • Beside Deposit, click Manage

In Deposit Protection panel:

  • The Provider, Registered Date & Registration No. are automatically completed

  • Click Store certificate

  • The downloaded certificate is available in the Document Management screen
    When a certificate is marked as Private, it will be prevented from upload to a Reapit tracker or MyAgency app that a landlord/tenant can access

  • Double-click the certificate to view it
    Can also right-click the certificate for an option to Rename the PDF file

Amend a registered deposit

When a deposit has been registered, if the tenancy start/end dates and/or deposit amount is changed - these updates are automatically detected by the TDS deposit management tool
Any other changes will require the deposit to be deregistered & reregistered - for more information, see later section titled Deregister deposit registration when tenancy ends

1. Dealing with updates

When tenancy start/end dates have been updated and/or the deposit amount has changed, these are picked up by the TDS deposit management tool

From the TDS Deposit Management screen:

  • Ensure the Register/Update Deposits tab is displayed (top left)

  • The deposit registration is shown with the TDS Process status of Update

  • Ensure the correct deposit registration entries are ticked

2. Process selected deposit(s) for the bulk deposit registration run

From top right of screen (shown above):

  • Click Process

  • Click Yes

  • The deposit registration run is processed and confirmed when complete, as seen when initially registering the deposit

When the deposit registration update is complete:

  • A status message is shown bottom left of the screen as each registration is completed

  • The entry is shown with a green tick to the left

  • Click OK to continue (or View Details to see more information)

3. Download updated certificate

From the TDS Deposit Management screen:

  • Click Check Status / Download Deposit Certificates tab (top left)

  • Any tenancy deposits whose certificates have already been sent via the Register/Update Deposits tab (but not downloaded) are displayed

The same process is used as when originally downloading the certificate, therefore:

  • Follow instructions outlined in this section: Download deposit certificate

  • When reaching step 5 to check that the updated certificate has downloaded to AgencyCloud - the updated certificate is shown in the Document Management screen along with the original registration certificate (and any other previously created certificates)

Deregister deposit registration when tenancy ends

When a tenancy ends and the deposit refunded, the tenant deposit can be deregistered

1. Finish tenancy & refund deposit on tenancy

From tenancy:

  • Tenancy Status should be Tenancy Finished

  • Tenant Deposit Held should show as £0.00

2. Select deposit(s) to deregister

From the TDS Deposit Management screen:

  • Ensure the Register/Update Deposits tab is displayed (top left)

  • Tick the boxes to the left of the relevant tenant deposits to be deregistered

3. Process selected deposits to be deregistered

From top right of screen (shown above):

  • Click Check Status

  • Click Yes

  • The deposit registration run is processed and confirmed when complete, as seen when initially registering/updating the deposit

When the deposit deregistration is complete:

  • A status message is shown bottom left of the screen as each action is completed

  • The entry is shown with a green tick to the left

  • Click OK to continue (or View Details to see more information)

Registration failure flag/reasons

After processing deposits via the deposit management tool, if the process fails:

  • A red exclamation mark icon is displayed to the left of the entry
    (plus the status message bottom left of the screen will indicate any errors)

  • Hover over the icon to see what action needs to be taken