What's the most deposit you can take?

England — Tenant Fees Act 2019. The deposit is capped at five weeks' rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, and six weeks' rent where the annual rent is £50,000 or more. A week's rent is the annual rent divided by 52. Charge more and the excess is a prohibited payment that has to be repaid. (Before 1 May 2026 a prohibited payment also blocked a Section 21 notice — Section 21 has since been abolished by the Renters' Rights Act 2025; the repayment duty is unchanged.)

Wales — Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Act 2019. There is no statutory cap on security deposits in Wales. The Act makes a deposit above "the prescribed limit" a prohibited payment, but the prescribed limit is left to regulations and the Welsh Government has never made them, so no fixed figure is in force. England's five to six weeks is widely quoted for Wales and is not Welsh law. What Wales does cap on the face of the Act is the holding deposit, at one week's rent. Checked 27 July 2026 against Schedule 1 of the Act.

Scotland. A tenancy deposit can't be more than two months' rent, and it must be lodged with an approved scheme within 30 working days. Charging a premium or holding fee on top is not allowed.

Northern Ireland — Private Tenancies Act (NI) 2022. Deposits are capped at one month's rent, and must be protected with an approved scheme within a set period. The cap is not gated on when the tenancy was granted — section 4(5) of the Act sets out exactly what it bites on, and it is worth reading carefully:

• The ban is on making the requirement. Section 4(5)(a): the new Article 5ZC(1)(a) "prohibits the making of a requirement within that sub-paragraph on or after the commencement date" — so what matters is when the landlord or agent asked for the money, not the tenancy start date and not the date it was paid.
• The rule making an excess recoverable works on the payment. Section 4(5)(d): Article 5ZD(2) "has effect in relation to tenancy deposits that are paid on or after the commencement date except where the deposit was required to be paid under or in connection with a legal obligation that existed before the commencement date". A deposit paid in May 2023 under an agreement signed in February 2023 was required before the ban existed, so its excess is not recoverable under that provision.
• One carve-out runs the other way. Section 4(5)(b): requiring a tenant to consent to an existing deposit being held for a new tenancy on or after 1 April 2023 is caught "regardless of the date on which the deposit was paid or the date on which the first tenancy ends". Roll a deposit over into a new tenancy today and the one-month cap applies to it, however old the money is.

Deposits from before 1 April 2023. There was no statutory deposit cap in Northern Ireland at all before that date. Section 4 came into operation on 1 April 2023 (S.R. 2023 No. 20) and was not backdated, so a deposit required and paid before then cannot be over a cap however large it is — and nothing is recoverable as an excess. The only exception is the roll-over point above: a fresh requirement made on or after 1 April 2023 is judged on today's rule. Checked 27 July 2026 against section 4 of the Act.

Holding deposits (England & Wales). You can take a holding deposit to reserve a property while you reference a tenant, but it's capped at one week's rent and must be put towards the rent or deposit, or refunded, within set time limits.

For the bigger picture on how renting changed in England — Section 21 abolished, periodic tenancies and the reformed possession grounds — see our Renters' Rights Act guide.