Deposit protection is the divergence landlords most often get wrong in the optimistic direction, because the first half of the rule is identical and they stop reading.
The identical half
Welsh deposits are protected under sections 213 to 215 of the Housing Act 2004, the same provisions as England, in the same three government-approved schemes. Within 30 days of receiving the deposit you must:
- protect it in an approved scheme, and
- give the contract-holder the prescribed information.
Thirty days, both duties, no grace period. Identical to England so far.
Where it stops being identical
There is no tenancy deposit cap in Wales. The Tenant Fees Act 2019 is England-only. Wales has its own prohibition, the Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Act 2019, which bans prohibited payments and caps holding deposits at one week’s rent — but it does not impose England’s five-or-six-weeks security deposit cap.
An English landlord assuming five weeks is safe is right by accident. A Welsh landlord reading English guidance and believing they are capped is wrong, and a Welsh landlord reading English guidance about which Act bans fees will cite the wrong statute in their written statement.
And the sanctions arrive differently
In England, failure to protect gives the tenant a claim for one to three times the deposit and blocks a section 21 notice — and section 21 no longer exists, so the practical bite has moved to Section 8 preconditions.
In Wales, the Housing Act 2004 penalty claim still runs, and on top of it the compliance gate is on section 173: a landlord who has not complied with the deposit requirements cannot give a valid no-fault notice. Since section 173 is still available in Wales, that gate is doing live work rather than sitting on an abolished provision.
Returning it
The Renting Homes (Wales) Act regulates how a deposit may be dealt with at the end of an occupation contract, and the scheme’s dispute process applies as it does in England. Deductions must be for something the contract actually permits — which, in Wales, means something in the written statement.
The practical checklist
- Protect within 30 days of receipt. Record the date.
- Serve prescribed information within 30 days. Record that date separately — they are two duties, not one.
- Do not apply an English deposit cap and do not cite the Tenant Fees Act 2019 in a Welsh contract.
- Cap any holding deposit at one week’s rent, under the Welsh 2019 Act.
- Keep the evidence: without it you cannot serve a section 173 notice.
Two dates, one deadline. Landlord HQ tracks the protection date and the prescribed-information date separately, because the law does. See what it costs.
Information tool, not legal advice.