United Kingdom
Last verified August 7, 2026
Written for U.S. passport holders
Deposit Protection
- If your tenancy started after April 6, 2007, your landlord is legally required to put your deposit into a government-approved tenancy deposit protection (TDP) scheme within 30 days of receiving it, and give you the scheme's 'Prescribed Information.'
- If a landlord fails to protect your deposit properly, you can take them to court and be awarded your deposit back plus up to 3x the deposit amount as a penalty.
Eviction Rules
- Until the Renters' Rights Act 2025 took effect, 'no-fault' Section 21 evictions were common in England; as of May 1, 2026, Section 21 is abolished — landlords must now cite a specific legal ground to end a tenancy.
- An unprotected deposit already blocked a landlord's ability to serve a valid Section 21 notice before the 2026 change, and that same principle (deposit must be properly protected) still constrains most Section 8 grounds for possession now.
The Gotcha
UK eviction rules changed substantially on May 1, 2026 — 'no-fault' Section 21 evictions, long a defining feature of English renting that a lot of online advice still describes as normal, are gone. If you're reading guidance written before 2026, double-check it against the current Renters' Rights Act 2025 rules rather than assuming the old Section 21 process still applies.
Sources
This page was drafted from the primary sources below. Rules change — check the linked page directly before relying on any of this.
- Tenancy deposit protection: Overview — GOV.UK