Deposit Protection Deadline Warning & Reminders
Deposit Protection Deadline Warning & Reminders
DepositClear helps agents stay compliant with the Housing Act 2004 s.213, which requires every tenancy deposit to be registered with a government-approved scheme within 30 days of the tenancy start date. Failure to comply carries a penalty of up to 3× the deposit amount.
This feature provides an in-wizard warning at the point of tenancy creation and an automated day-20 reminder so agents always have 10 full days to act before the legal deadline.
How It Works
1. Amber Warning Banner (New Tenancy Wizard — Step 2)
When creating a new tenancy, if all three of the following conditions are true in Step 2 (Rent & Deposit):
- Deposit scheme is set to "None / Not yet protected"
- Deposit amount is greater than £0
- A tenancy start date has been entered
…an amber warning banner appears automatically:
You have 30 days from [start date] — i.e., by [deadline] — to register this deposit with an approved scheme. 🔔 We'll send you a reminder at day 20 automatically.
The banner is reactive: the deadline date updates instantly whenever the agent changes the start date, deposit amount, or switches the deposit scheme selection. No page reload is required.
If the agent selects a registered scheme, the banner disappears.
2. Automated Day-20 Reminder
When a tenancy is saved with an unprotected deposit, DepositClear automatically schedules a reminder via its background job system.
What happens:
- A background event (
tenancy/deposit_unprotected.created) is queued at the point of tenancy creation. - The job sleeps until day 20 after the tenancy start date.
- On day 20, before sending any notification, the system re-checks whether the deposit has since been protected. If so, the job exits silently — no notification is sent.
- If the deposit is still unprotected, all organisation admins and owners receive:
- An in-app notification in DepositClear.
- An email alert to their registered address.
- The reminder is deduplicated — each tenancy receives at most one day-20 reminder.
Scheduling failure is non-fatal. If the background job cannot be queued (e.g. due to a transient error), tenancy creation still succeeds. The day-25 escalation acts as a safety net.
3. Day-25 Safety-Net Escalation
An unconditional cron-based escalation runs on day 25 regardless of whether the day-20 reminder was sent or acknowledged. This is the last automated alert before the 30-day legal deadline.
Compliance Ladder
| Day | Event |
|---|---|
| 0 | Tenancy created. Amber banner shown in wizard. Day-20 reminder queued. |
| 20 | In-app + email reminder sent to all org admins (if deposit still unprotected). |
| 25 | Unconditional escalation cron fires. |
| 30 | Legal deadline — Housing Act 2004 s.213. Penalty: up to 3× deposit. |
Who Receives Notifications
Day-20 reminders are sent to all users in the organisation with the Admin or Owner role. Notifications are sent both in-app and by email.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I register the deposit before day 20? The day-20 reminder checks the current deposit status when it wakes up. If the deposit has been registered in the meantime, no notification is sent.
What if I set the scheme during tenancy creation? The amber banner only appears when the scheme is set to "None / Not yet protected". Selecting any registered scheme removes the banner and no reminder is scheduled.
What if the tenancy is archived before day 20? The day-20 reminder performs a status check on wake. If the tenancy has been archived, the job exits without sending any notification.
Will I receive duplicate reminders? No. The system deduplicates reminders — each tenancy can only trigger one day-20 reminder.
Is the day-25 escalation still active? Yes. The day-25 escalation is unconditional and unchanged. It acts as a safety net regardless of whether the day-20 reminder was sent or received.