Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) runs both custodial and insurance-backed protection. The check takes two minutes on the official site - and what you do with the result matters more than the result itself.
A compliant record shows: the scheme name, the protected amount, the protection date (day 1-30 of the tenancy), the address, and the prescribed-information reference. Screenshot it. If the protection date is AFTER day 30, you have a late-protection claim (1-3x) even though protection now exists.
1) Different scheme - run all three checkers before concluding. 2) Name mismatch - try maiden names, typos, the landlord's spelling of the address. 3) Genuinely unprotected - that is a claim: 1-3x compensation at the county court plus the deposit itself, and the landlord loses s.21 until cured. The empty result is not the end; it is the opening exhibit.
TDS insurance check: tdsGU.co.uk 'Is my deposit protected' - name plus property address. Custodial: you'd have direct scheme login credentials from registration. Check all three schemes if unsure: DPS, TDS, MyDeposits - landlords occasionally register with a different scheme than their paperwork implies.
Insurance-backed: the TDS public checker returns scheme membership and protection date. For full details (amount, prescribed information), request the certificate from your landlord - it is their duty to serve it within 30 days.
Check mydeposits.co.uk directly - same name-and-address lookup. Different scheme, same legal duty: protection within 30 days and prescribed information served. If your landlord said 'TDS' but registered MyDeposits, the duty is still met; the paperwork just names the actual scheme.
Custodial TDS: agreement in the portal releases funds (about 10 days), disputes go to TDS adjudication. Insurance TDS: the LANDLORD repays you directly; TDS adjudication handles disputed deductions, and non-payment after adjudication goes to county court.
TDS insurance route: adjudication decision binds the landlord to pay; refusal = county court enforcement of the adjudication outcome plus your original 1-3x rights if protection itself was late. Keep the adjudication decision - it is your judgment-in-waiting.
10 days from tenancy end regardless of scheme. TDS custodial release then runs on its own portal timeline; the landlord's duty does not pause while 'the scheme sorts it out'.