Deposits · Product guide
Deposits
Deposits is where you keep track of every tenant’s deposit: when the money arrived, when it was protected, the documents the tenant must receive, and how much went back at the end of the tenancy. You can also register custodial deposits with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) without leaving COHO.
For step-by-step instructions, see Deposits: how-to. For problems, see Deposits: troubleshooting.
Why you’d come here
Section titled “Why you’d come here”| You want to… | Usually you start from | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| Protect a new tenant’s deposit within the legal 30 days | A Register deposit for [tenant] Action, or the tenancy’s Deposit Management panel | Register a deposit with TDS or Record a deposit you protect yourself |
| See which deposits still need work | Menu > Deposits: the Pending card and its sub-cards | The Deposits panel |
| Get the prescribed information to the tenant, and their signature | The tenancy’s Deposit Management panel | Ask tenants to sign the deposit documents |
| Return a deposit at the end of a tenancy, with or without deductions | The Closing card, or a Return deposit for [tenant] Action | Return a deposit |
| Work through many deposits at once, such as a September intake | Multi-select on the Deposits panel | Update many deposits at once |
| Report on deposits held, for an audit or your accountant | Export (CSV) on the Deposits panel | Export deposits |
| Connect your own TDS account | The settings cog on the Deposits panel | Connect TDS |
| Clear old deposit Actions for deposits handled outside COHO | Ignore on the Deposits panel | Ignore a deposit you manage elsewhere |
Which panel to use:
| Panel | Use it when you’re thinking about |
|---|---|
| Deposits (organisation, Menu > Deposits) | Your whole portfolio: what’s pending, active or closing, totals, bulk updates, exports and TDS settings |
| Deposit Management (on a tenancy, from the room page) | One tenant’s deposit: its details and files, TDS registration, tenant signatures and past deposit records |
Both panels work on the same deposit record, so a change in one shows in the other.
How it works
Section titled “How it works”Each tenancy that takes a deposit has one deposit record. The record moves through these stages:
| # | Stage | What it means | Where it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Info required | The tenancy has a deposit, but nothing has been recorded yet | Pending |
| 2 | Started | You’ve added the deposit, but the money hasn’t been received | Pending |
| 3 | Received | The tenant has paid you | Pending |
| 4 | Transferred | You’ve sent the money to a custodial scheme (custodial deposits only) | Pending |
| 5 | Completed | The deposit is protected and the paperwork is done | Active |
| 6 | Closing | The tenancy has ended and the deposit hasn’t been closed yet | Closing: Under review, Agreement reached or Overdue |
| 7 | Closed | You’ve recorded the return. The Closed switch shows these | Closed |
Not every deposit goes through every stage:
| Deposit type | Stages |
|---|---|
| Deposit protection scheme, custodial | Started, received, transferred, completed |
| Deposit protection scheme, insured | Started, received, completed (you keep the money) |
| Lodger deposit | Started, then received; receiving it also completes it |
| Deposit replacement scheme | Started, then completed. There’s no money to receive, and the amount is the Coverage amount |
| Other | Started, received, completed |
Rent in advance and None don’t use Deposits: the tenancy has no deposit record and no Deposit Management panel.
The tenancy’s deposit comes first. The deposit type and amount are set on the tenancy as Tenant money held (when you start an onboarding or create or edit a tenancy). COHO creates the deposit record from that, and keeps its type and amount in step if you change the tenancy.
Where to find it
Section titled “Where to find it”| Level | Where | Shows |
|---|---|---|
| Organisation | Dashboard: Menu > Deposits | Every deposit in your portfolio |
| Tenancy | A room page, with the tenancy selected: its Deposit Management panel | That tenancy’s deposit |
| Onboarding | An onboarding’s page: the Deposit Management line in the applicant panel | Whether the deposit has been recorded and signed (deposit protection schemes only) |
The Deposit Management panel only appears when all of these are true:
- the tenancy’s Tenant money held isn’t None or Rent in advance;
- the Deposit Management service isn’t switched off for the property (it’s on by default, except for short-term lets);
- you have permission to view deposits.
What you see
Section titled “What you see”The Deposits panel
Section titled “The Deposits panel”When closed, the panel reads, for example, “12 active deposits, 3 pending and 1 closing.” Open it to see:
| On screen | What it does |
|---|---|
| Pending, Active, Closing cards | The three main lists. The panel opens on Active. Closing turns to an alert colour when a return is overdue |
| Pending sub-cards: Info required, Started, Received, Transferred | Pending deposits by stage. COHO opens the first one that has deposits |
| Closing sub-cards: Under review, Agreement reached, Overdue | Ended tenancies, by how far the return has got |
| Property, Filter by tags, Search tenant, property, room…, Filter by deposit type, Filter by scheme, Filter by protection type | Narrow the list. Click Filter to apply |
| Closed switch | Shows closed deposits instead |
| Property / Room, Tenant, Amount, Type, Status | The list. Status shows the stage, a TDS status, or for active deposits with a move-out date, for example “Ends in 3 weeks” |
| View | Opens the deposit in the panel |
| Pending deposits total, Active deposits total, Closing deposits total | The total value in each list |
| Multi-select | Tick several deposits to update, close, tag or export them together (Pending and Closing) |
| Export (CSV) / Export selected (CSV) | Downloads the list, or the ticked deposits |
| Settings cog | Opens Deposit management settings, where you connect TDS |
A deposit, opened from the list
Section titled “A deposit, opened from the list”Click View on a deposit. You see the tenancy’s deposit type and amount, the recorded type, provider, protection type, scheme reference, notes and dates (Date money received, Date money sent, Completion date, Repayment requested, Outcome), its files, tags and a History tab.
Under What next? COHO shows only the next steps that make sense for that deposit:
| Card | Use it to | Shown when |
|---|---|---|
| Provide info | Start the deposit record | Nothing recorded yet |
| Ignore | Hide a deposit you manage outside COHO | Nothing recorded yet |
| Received | Record that the tenant paid you | Not yet received (not for replacement schemes) |
| Transferred | Record that you paid a custodial scheme | Custodial, not yet transferred |
| Complete | Mark the deposit as protected and active | Not yet completed (not for lodger deposits) |
| Request repayment | Send the release to TDS | Tenancy ended, and TDS is holding the deposit |
| Agreement reached | Record the agreed return amount | Tenancy ended, and the deposit isn’t held by TDS through COHO |
| Close | Record the money returned and finish | Tenancy ended |
Edit, Remove and Re-open (for a closed deposit) appear below.
The Deposit Management panel
Section titled “The Deposit Management panel”On the tenancy, the panel’s summary tells you where the deposit is, for example “Deposit of £950 registered with Tenancy Deposit Scheme taken on 3 Sep 2026”, or “You need to add information about the Deposit Management” when nothing has been recorded.
| On screen | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) block | Register the deposit with TDS, follow its status, mark it paid, request repayment. See Registering with TDS |
| Deposit summary | Type, scheme and amount, and “Completed on [date]” or “Not completed yet.” |
| Details, files | Your notes, the public files the tenant sees, and manager-only files |
| Signature process | Ask every tenant to sign the deposit documents, and review their signatures |
| Add / Edit / Register info | Opens the Manage deposit form |
| Remove | Removes the deposit record |
| Past Deposit Information | Earlier records for this tenancy, kept when you replaced them |
Recording a deposit: the Manage deposit form
Section titled “Recording a deposit: the Manage deposit form”Add (or Provide info) opens Manage deposit.
| Option | What it means |
|---|---|
| Type | Deposit Protection Scheme, Deposit Replacement Scheme, Lodger Deposit or Other (with Other type) |
| Provider | For a protection scheme: COHO lists the schemes that cover the property’s address. The schemes are Deposit Protection Service, MyDeposits, Tenancy Deposit Scheme, Letting Protection Service, MyDeposits Scotland, Safe Deposits Scotland and Letting Protection Service Scotland |
| Protection type | Custodial or Insured. Required with a protection scheme |
| Deposit amount / Coverage amount | Filled in from the tenancy. For a replacement scheme it’s the cover, and optional |
| Process stage | Just starting, Money received, Money sent (custodial only) or Complete (not lodger deposits), with the matching date |
| Create a payment record of £… | At Money received: adds a payment to the tenant’s rent schedule and assigns it to the deposit charge. On by default, unless your organisation has a working bank feed |
| Add notes, Add scheme reference / Add custom reference | Notes, and the scheme’s reference (for TDS, the DAN starting “EW”) so you can search for it |
| Public files | Files the tenant can see, such as the certificate and prescribed information. With Complete, Serve by email to tenants emails them |
| Add manager-only files | Files only your team sees |
Saving an edit keeps the old version under Past Deposit Information. Editing a document that tenants have signed voids their signature.
Registering with TDS
Section titled “Registering with TDS”COHO is connected to the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) for custodial deposits in England and Wales (and Northern Ireland, with your own account). For other schemes, and for insured TDS deposits, you protect the deposit on the scheme’s own website and record it in COHO.
Two ways to use TDS
Section titled “Two ways to use TDS”| As a landlord | As an agent | |
|---|---|---|
| For properties you’ve told COHO are | Owned by you (or rent-to-rent) | Managed for an owner |
| TDS account | COHO creates a branch for you under COHO’s TDS head office the first time you register. No credentials needed | Your own TDS agent account, connected with your Member Id, Branch Id and Api Key |
| Seeing your deposits on the TDS website | Create user in the Deposits settings, then log in to TDS with that user | Your usual TDS login |
A property’s ownership type is set on the property’s ownership panel. If you have both owned and managed properties and no TDS credentials, COHO warns that you’ll be registering “as a Landlord” and not in your own TDS account.
The steps
Section titled “The steps”- Register. On the tenancy’s Deposit Management panel (or the Action), click Register deposit, check the property, tenancy and people details on Review & Register, then Register Deposit. COHO shows how much the rent book has received as deposit and warns you if that doesn’t match the amount you’re protecting. You can change Deposit amount to protect before registering.
- Wait for the reference. COHO checks with TDS for up to about 30 minutes. When TDS accepts it, you see “Your deposit reference is: [DAN]” and the TDS bank details to pay.
- Pay TDS by bank transfer using the DAN as the reference, then click Mark As Paid. This only records the date in COHO; it doesn’t tell TDS.
- TDS confirms it holds the money, usually a few working days later. COHO then fetches the Deposit Protection Certificate, creates the prescribed information and adds the TDS leaflet, marks the deposit Completed, and serves the documents to the tenants.
- At the end of the tenancy, click Request Repayment to send the split between tenant and deductions to TDS. See Return a deposit.
TDS statuses you may see: Registering, Deposit Registered, Awaiting Receipt Of Deposit, Deposit Held, and when it ends, a Deposit Closed status (for example Deposit Closed - Deposit Repaid in Part).
End of the tenancy
Section titled “End of the tenancy”When a tenancy ends, its deposit moves to Closing:
| Sub-card | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Under review | Nothing agreed yet |
| Agreement reached | You’ve recorded the agreed return (or requested repayment from TDS). COHO sets Repayment due by to 10 days after the date agreed, which you can change |
| Overdue | The Repayment due by date has passed and the deposit isn’t closed |
You finish with Close, which opens Finish process:
| Option | What it means |
|---|---|
| Return date | When you sent the money back |
| Amount returned | How much the tenant got back. Required, except for replacement schemes |
| Also update the deposit rent record to match this return | Off by default. Shown only if the deposit is paid on the rent schedule. When ticked, COHO refunds or keeps the deposit charge in Rent Collection to match: the difference is recorded as Deposit kept |
| Return notes / Claim notes | Optional, up to 1,000 characters (claim notes for replacement schemes) |
What the tenant sees
Section titled “What the tenant sees”Tenants see their deposit in their own COHO account, once they’ve joined:
- On their home page and compliance documents: the completed deposit’s type, scheme, amount and date, with its public files (for example the certificate, prescribed information and scheme leaflet). For a TDS deposit: “Your deposit has been correctly registered with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS).”
- When you ask for signatures: an email and an Action to Sign deposit documents. Each tenant signs with their finger, stylus or mouse and clicks Sign and Acknowledge.
- Never: your notes, manager-only files, references or the deposit’s status in your workflow.
Statuses
Section titled “Statuses”The deposit: see the stages in How it works.
Tenant signatures:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Deposit signing not started | No signatures asked for |
| Awaiting tenant signature | Waiting for one or more tenants |
| Signature needs to be reviewed | Everyone has signed; you need to accept |
| Signature has been accepted | Done. COHO stores a signed copy and a receipt |
Settings
Section titled “Settings”Open Deposit management settings from the settings cog on the Deposits panel.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| TDS - Deposit Registration | How you’ll use TDS (As a landlord or As an agent), Add TDS account (your Account name, Member Id, Branch Id, Api Key and Region: EW or NI), Edit, Disconnect, and Create user for COHO’s head office branch |
You can connect more than one TDS account; you then choose the account when registering. Disconnect hides an account from new registrations; deposits already registered with it keep using it.
The Deposit Management service is set per property, under the property’s services. Manual (the default) is the setting to use: COHO creates the Actions that remind you to protect, serve and return deposits. Off hides the panel and stops the Actions. Before the first deposit, accept the service’s terms through the Configure Deposit Management Action.
Who can use it
Section titled “Who can use it”| To | You need |
|---|---|
| See deposits | View permission for Deposits (“View deposits”) |
| Add, edit, complete, register, ignore, request repayment or re-open | Edit permission for Deposits (“Protect, keep and refund deposits”) |
| Record money received, or close a deposit | Also “Confirm deposit received and returned on the rent schedule” |
| Connect TDS, create your branch under COHO’s TDS head office, or create TDS users | Integrations permission |
Without view permission, the Deposits panel says “You do not have access to deposits, but you can still manage your TDS credentials via settings (cog icon).” if you can manage integrations.
Rules and automatic behaviour
Section titled “Rules and automatic behaviour”Deposit records
- One per tenancy. Each tenancy has one current deposit record. Editing it saves a new version and moves the old one to Past Deposit Information.
- Created for you when a tenancy with a deposit protection scheme, replacement scheme, lodger or “other” deposit is created as active or future, when you add a room or property with a current tenancy, and when you confirm an onboarding contract. Until you add details, the deposit shows under Info required.
- Kept in step with the tenancy. Editing the tenancy’s deposit type or amount updates the record, even if the deposit is already protected, so check the record afterwards. Changing Tenant money held to None removes it.
- Renewals don’t update it. A new tenancy agreement that changes the deposit amount changes the tenancy, but not the deposit record. Edit the record yourself if the protected amount changes.
- No deposit cap check. COHO doesn’t stop a deposit above the legal limit (five weeks’ rent in most cases), so check the amount yourself.
Money and Rent Collection
- Received → rent schedule. Recording Money received (one deposit, or in bulk) marks an unpaid deposit charge on the rent schedule as paid, by adding a payment “Created from deposit receipt”. This always happens from the list’s Received card and bulk Money received. In Manage deposit you can untick Create a payment record of £… if you’ll match the payment from your bank instead. If the tenancy has no deposit charge on its rent schedule (for example a tenancy you added directly rather than through onboarding), nothing changes there.
- Rent schedule → received, only for some payments. COHO records the deposit as received only when the deposit charge is paid in full by a payment you log in Rent Collection, or by move-in monies you confirm in onboarding. It creates the deposit record if there isn’t one. A deposit charge paid any other way (Mark … paid on time, assigning an existing payment, GoCardless, or a payment matched from your bank in Transactions) doesn’t update Deposits: record Received yourself. Replacement schemes are never updated.
- Refunding or keeping the deposit in Rent Collection closes the deposit. Refund or Keep all or part of the Deposit on the deposit charge closes the deposit record, with the amount returned worked out for you. Cancel Refund doesn’t re-open it; use Re-open.
- Closing the deposit only changes the rent schedule if you ask. See Also update the deposit rent record to match this return in End of the tenancy.
TDS
- Custodial only. COHO registers custodial deposits; insured deposits are recorded manually.
- Ownership first. The property needs its ownership type set, and a managed property needs an owner with a complete address.
- Organisation details first. Registering needs your registered office address, public telephone number and public email address.
- Repayment must add up. The tenant repayment plus deductions must equal the protected amount, and you can’t ask for more than TDS holds. The tenancy must have a move-out date that isn’t in the future.
- Held deposits must go through TDS. If TDS holds the deposit, Agreement reached is replaced by Request repayment: recording an agreement only in COHO doesn’t release the money.
- Cancelling in COHO doesn’t cancel at TDS. Cancel process stops tracking in COHO; delete the registration on the TDS website too.
What COHO sends
| When | Who gets it | How |
|---|---|---|
| A deposit needs registering, adding, completing or returning | Your team | An Action, with email and push notification (notifications go to users who can see Rent Collection) |
| A TDS deposit is waiting for payment, paid but with no certificate after 7 days, or its certificate arrives | The manager | An Action, with email and push notification |
| The deposit is completed with public files (or TDS sends the certificate) | Each tenant | The documents to view and acknowledge in their COHO account, or by email |
| You ask for signatures, or click Resend | Each tenant who hasn’t signed | Email: “Sign deposit management information for [property]”, and an Action in their account |
| All tenants have signed | The manager | An Action to review the signatures |
What COHO does automatically
- Creates deposit records from the tenancy, and keeps the type and amount in step.
- Raises Actions: Register deposit for [tenant] (due on move-in for a future tenancy, or 30 days after move-in), Deposit management information for [tenant] (for tenancies that started over 30 days ago with nothing recorded), Complete deposit management for [tenant] (due 30 days after the money was received) and Return deposit for [tenant] (once you’ve recorded Agreement reached or requested repayment, due on the Repayment due by date). They close themselves when the work is done. When a tenancy ends, any open register, add or complete Actions for it are withdrawn.
- Links money: marks the deposit charge paid when you record money received, and records money received when you log a payment for the deposit charge or confirm move-in monies.
- Closes deposits when you refund or keep the deposit in Rent Collection.
- Moves deposits to Closing when the tenancy ends, and to Overdue when the return date passes.
- With TDS: checks registration and status hourly until the deposit is held, then completes the deposit, creates the prescribed information and serves it to the tenants.
- Links deposits you registered on the TDS website: if you save a TDS custodial deposit with a reference starting “EW”, COHO looks it up in your connected TDS accounts (straight away, and again nightly) and links it.
What COHO doesn’t do automatically
- register a deposit with TDS. You click Register deposit;
- connect to any scheme other than TDS. Record DPS, mydeposits, Letting Protection Service and Scottish scheme deposits yourself;
- pay TDS, or tell TDS you’ve paid. Mark As Paid is a note for you;
- follow a TDS deposit after it’s held. Click Get latest status;
- return money to the tenant. COHO records the return; the money moves through TDS or your bank;
- cancel a registration on the TDS website;
- update the deposit charge on the rent schedule when you close a deposit, unless you tick the option;
- record a deposit as received when it’s paid through GoCardless, matched from your bank, or marked paid without logging a payment;
- create a “return deposit” Action when the tenancy ends. The deposit moves to Closing, and the Action follows once you record an agreement;
- send deposit transfers to your accounting software. Only the deposit charge and payments on the rent schedule are included in the Xero sync;
- check a deposit against the legal cap.
Related guides
Section titled “Related guides”- Deposits: how-to: step-by-step instructions for every task.
- Deposits: troubleshooting: fixes for common problems and error messages.
- Rent Schedules & Rent Collection, Onboarding, Tenancies & Tenants, Properties & Rooms (ownership and services), Actions, and Transactions.