One of your joint tenants has just told you they are moving out. The others want to stay. Somewhere in the middle of it sits a deposit that legally belongs to all of them — and if you handle it wrongly you can lose the right to evict anyone in that property at all.
This is the most misunderstood situation in shared housing, and it became considerably more dangerous on 1 May 2026, when the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 came into force. Assured shorthold tenancies and fixed terms were abolished, every tenancy in England is now a periodic assured tenancy, and a single joint tenant can end the whole tenancy for everyone without the others agreeing.
This guide explains what actually happens to a tenancy deposit when one joint tenant leaves, the three routes open to you, the deposit-protection trap that now blocks possession under almost every ground, and the one charge most landlords get wrong.
Key takeaways
- A deposit is protected for the tenancy, not for each tenant. There is no such thing as one tenant’s share while the tenancy is running.
- Since 1 May 2026, a notice to quit from one joint tenant ends the tenancy for all of them. Shortening or withdrawing that notice needs every tenant and the landlord to agree.
- You have three routes: a deed of assignment, a surrender and regrant, or letting the notice run out.
- Assignment keeps the tenancy — and the existing protection — alive. A regrant creates a new tenancy, so the deposit must be protected and prescribed information served within 30 days.
- Get that wrong and a court cannot grant possession on any Section 8 ground except Ground 7A and Ground 14.
- For the paperwork you can charge up to £50 — or your reasonable costs if they are genuinely higher and you can evidence them.
What a joint tenancy actually is
In a joint tenancy, two or more people sign one agreement and hold a single tenancy between them. They are not four tenants with a quarter each. They are one tenant made of four people.
That produces joint and several liability: each of them is liable for all of the rent and all of the damage, not a proportionate slice. If three stop paying, you can pursue the fourth for the lot. It also means the deposit is a single sum held against a single tenancy, whatever private arrangement the tenants made about who contributed what.
This is why the question landlords ask — “how do I refund the one who’s leaving?” — has an uncomfortable answer. While the tenancy continues, there is nothing to refund. The deposit is not divisible until the tenancy it protects comes to an end.
What changed on 1 May 2026
The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 rewrote the background rules, and three changes matter here:
- No more fixed terms. Every assured tenancy is periodic from the first day, so there is no fixed term left to run and nothing to “break”.
- Tenants give two months’ notice in writing, expiring at the end of a rent period. Writing includes email. A notice from one joint tenant ends the tenancy for all of them.
- Section 21 is gone. Every possession route now runs through Section 8 — which is exactly why the deposit rules below have teeth they never had before.
The practical effect is that the departing tenant holds a trigger the others cannot disarm. If your leaver serves a valid notice to quit because nobody told them not to, the tenancy ends for the remaining sharers too — and they have no right to stay. Shortening that notice, or withdrawing it, requires the agreement of every joint tenant and you. One sulking housemate can block it.
So the first thing to do when a sharer says they are leaving is not paperwork. It is a phone call, before anybody serves anything.
The first week: handling a departing joint tenant
Stop the notice being served
Ask all tenants what they want
Pick a route: assign, regrant or end
Reference the replacement
Sort the deposit and paperwork
Your three routes when one joint tenant leaves
Assuming everyone is co-operating and the remaining tenants want to stay, you have three options. They differ mainly in what happens to the deposit.
Route 1: Deed of assignment (swap the tenant, keep the tenancy)
The departing tenant assigns their interest to the incoming one by deed, signed by everybody — outgoing tenant, incoming tenant, remaining tenants and you. The tenancy itself never ends. It simply continues with a different cast.
Because there is no new tenancy, the deposit stays where it is and there is no fresh 30-day clock. What you must do is update the record: tell your scheme who the tenants now are, and re-serve the prescribed information naming all current tenants, including the new one. A deposit protected in the name of someone who moved out two years ago is an argument waiting to happen at check-out.
The catch is that assignment carries the history with it. The incoming tenant inherits the property in whatever state it is in, and the deposit already carries whatever damage the previous occupants caused. Both sides need to understand that before signing — which is why a mid-tenancy inventory update is worth the hour it takes.
Route 2: Surrender and regrant (end it, start fresh)
Everybody agrees the existing tenancy ends on a given date, and you grant a new one to the remaining tenants plus the replacement. This is the route the deposit schemes themselves tend to recommend, because it draws a clean line.
It is also the route with the most compliance steps, because everything resets:
- Check out the old tenancy properly — inspect, agree any deductions, and settle the deposit with the outgoing group.
- Take the deposit for the new tenancy and protect it within 30 days, serving prescribed information on every new tenant and any relevant person who paid on their behalf.
- Re-issue the compliance pack: gas safety record, EICR, EPC, How to Rent guide, and the written statement of terms.
- Carry out a right to rent check on the incoming tenant and keep the evidence.
- Check the deposit is still within the cap for the new rent.
One trap catches experienced landlords. There is a provision in the Housing Act 2004 that spares you from re-protecting a deposit on a replacement tenancy — but it only applies where the landlord and the tenant are the same as before. Change who the tenants are and you are outside it. A regrant with a different line-up is a new tenancy with a new deposit, full stop.
Route 3: Let the notice run
If the tenants cannot agree, or you do not want to continue with the ones who remain, you can simply let the notice to quit take effect. The tenancy ends for everybody, the property comes back to you, and the deposit is returned to the outgoing tenants less any agreed deductions.
This is cleanest legally and most expensive commercially — you are buying a void and a re-let. But it is the right answer more often than landlords expect, particularly where the remaining tenants could not pass affordability on their own.
| Deed of assignment | Surrender and regrant | Let the notice run | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Does the tenancy end? | No | Yes, and a new one starts | Yes, for everyone |
| Re-protect the deposit? | No — update the record and re-serve prescribed information | Yes — within 30 days | No — return it at the end |
| New tenancy agreement? | No | Yes | Not applicable |
| Fresh compliance pack? | Good practice | Yes, all of it | For the next let |
| Main risk | Inherited damage and a stale deposit record | Missing the 30-day deadline | Void period and re-let costs |
| Best when | One clean swap, everyone co-operating | Several changes at once, or you want a reset | Tenants disagree, or affordability fails |
Comparing the three routes for a change of sharer in a joint tenancy.
The deposit trap that now blocks possession
Before May 2026, an unprotected deposit stopped you serving a Section 21 notice. Landlords treated it as a Section 21 problem, and Section 21 was only one of several routes to possession.
The Renters’ Rights Act moved the blockage. A court now cannot make a possession order unless the deposit is held in an authorised scheme, the scheme’s requirements have been met and the prescribed information has been given. That applies across almost every Section 8 ground. The only carve-outs are Ground 7A and Ground 14 — the anti-social behaviour grounds.
Miss the 30 days on a regrant and you have not merely lost a notice. You have lost rent arrears, you have lost selling with vacant possession, you have lost moving back in — until you fix it.
The saving grace is that the breach is curable. Protecting late and serving the prescribed information before the hearing is now enough to satisfy the court, as is returning the deposit in full or subject to agreed deductions. What you cannot do is discover the problem on the morning of the hearing.
There is a sting in the tail for rent arrears claims. A tenant facing a Ground 8 claim can counterclaim the deposit penalty — between one and three times the deposit — and if that reduces the arrears below the three months Ground 8 requires, the mandatory ground evaporates in the hearing room. If you are relying on Ground 8, make sure the arrears comfortably exceed three months’ rent plus three times the deposit before you issue.
Refunding the leaver’s share — the mistake to avoid
The single most common error is paying the departing tenant their “share” out of the protected deposit mid-tenancy, usually to be helpful.
Do not do it. The deposit protects the tenancy. Release part of it while the tenancy continues and you are under-secured against damage the remaining tenants cause, and you have taken money out of a protected scheme that the scheme’s rules did not allow you to release. At check-out you are arguing with tenants about a sum that is no longer there.
Where the tenancy continues by assignment, the money stays in the scheme and the outgoing tenant is reimbursed by the incoming tenant, directly, between themselves. Your only role is to document it: a short written acknowledgement from the leaver that they have been paid out, have no further claim on the deposit, and agree the protection now runs for the new group.
Where the tenancy ends, the deposit is settled normally against the outgoing tenants at the end, and a fresh deposit is taken and protected for the new tenancy. That is the whole appeal of the regrant route.
What you can and cannot charge
Changing a sharer is a variation, assignment or novation of a tenancy, and the Tenant Fees Act 2019 governs what you may charge for it. The permitted payment is £50, or your reasonable costs if they are higher than £50 — and if you charge more than £50 you must be able to evidence that the costs were genuinely incurred and reasonable. Anything above your actual reasonable costs is a prohibited payment.
In practice, £50 covers a deed of assignment and a scheme update comfortably. Most landlords charging more are charging for referencing, which is a different thing and not permitted.
- Allowed: up to £50 for the paperwork of the change (more only with evidenced reasonable costs).
- Not allowed: a referencing fee, an “admin fee”, a renewal fee, an inventory fee, or a charge for updating the deposit scheme record.
- Not allowed: requiring the incoming tenant to pay a second deposit on top of the one already held, where that would breach the cap.
Getting this wrong is not a slap on the wrist. A prohibited payment can trigger a financial penalty and, until it is repaid, it blocks possession in the same way an unprotected deposit does. Our guide to what landlords are allowed to charge sets out the full list of permitted payments.
Check the deposit cap if you grant a new tenancy
A regrant is a new tenancy, so the cap is measured afresh against the new rent. The deposit cannot exceed five weeks’ rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, or six weeks’ rent where it is £50,000 or more.
This catches landlords who took a deposit years ago, have raised the rent since, and assume the old sum rolls over safely. It usually does — a rising rent makes the cap more generous, not less. The risk runs the other way: if you reduce the rent on the new tenancy, a deposit that was compliant before may now sit above five weeks and the excess becomes a prohibited payment. Work the number out rather than assuming it.
Disputes between the tenants themselves
Sharers fall out. The one leaving says they paid more in; the ones staying say they cleaned up after them for two years. Both want you to adjudicate.
You should not, and the schemes will not either. The deposit schemes adjudicate between landlord and tenant on deductions from the deposit. They do not arbitrate how tenants divide money between themselves — that is a private matter, and if it escalates it is a small claims matter between them.
Say so early and in writing, kindly. “I can tell you what the deposit is and what deductions I’d claim. How you split it between you is yours to agree.” Then hold that line, because the moment you take a view you have acquired a party to the argument.
Reference the replacement properly
The incoming sharer is usually found by the tenants, arrives with a good word from a friend, and needs somewhere to live by the weekend. The temptation to wave them through is considerable.
Reference them exactly as you would a stranger. With joint and several liability, the weakest tenant in the group sets your real risk, and a replacement who cannot pay becomes a problem for the whole household — including the tenants you were happy with. Affordability, employment, previous landlord, right to rent. Same process, same evidence, same file.
If the replacement cannot pass on their own, a guarantor is the usual answer — but make sure the guarantee is drafted for the tenancy that will actually exist, not the one that ended. A guarantee given for a surrendered tenancy does not automatically carry into a regrant.
One more deadline: the PRS Database
From 15 December 2026 the government’s Register your rental property service goes live, region by region, and every landlord letting on an assured tenancy in England must be registered by 14 November 2027. Registration costs £65 per property per year.
It matters here for the same reason deposit protection does: while you are unregistered, a court cannot grant possession on any ground except 7A and 14. Once you are registered, a change of sharer means the dwelling entry needs updating — occupier numbers, rent, and any change to the certificates. Add it to the same checklist you use for the deposit. Our guide to when the PRS Database and Landlord Ombudsman arrive has the regional dates.
Common mistakes
- Assuming the remaining tenants can stay automatically once a notice to quit has been served. They cannot — the tenancy ends for all of them.
- Releasing the leaver’s “share” of a protected deposit mid-tenancy.
- Granting a new tenancy and not re-protecting the deposit, on the mistaken belief that a replacement tenancy is exempt.
- Serving prescribed information on some tenants but not the new one.
- Charging a referencing or admin fee dressed up as the £50 change-of-sharer charge.
- Accepting a verbal withdrawal of a notice to quit. Withdrawal needs written agreement from you and every joint tenant.
- Skipping right to rent checks because the tenants vouched for their friend.
- Letting the deposit scheme record go stale, so it still names tenants who left three swaps ago.
What to do next
The moment a sharer tells you they are going, do three things before anyone puts anything in writing. Confirm that nobody has served a notice to quit. Ask all the tenants, in one message, whether the others intend to stay and whether they have a replacement in mind. Then choose your route deliberately — assignment for a clean single swap, regrant when you want a reset, and letting the notice run when the numbers no longer work.
Whichever you pick, the deposit follows the tenancy. If the tenancy survives, so does the protection, and you update the record. If the tenancy ends, the protection ends with it and a new one starts, with a fresh 30 days you cannot afford to miss.
If the split is an acrimonious one — a couple separating rather than a housemate moving on — our guide to joint tenants separating or divorcing covers the additional complications. And if a tenant has served notice but will not leave, see what to do when a tenant stays past a notice to quit.
Frequently asked questions
Can one joint tenant really end the tenancy for everyone?
Yes. Since 1 May 2026, a valid notice to quit from a single joint tenant ends the periodic assured tenancy for all of them. The remaining tenants have no right to stay, and withdrawing or shortening the notice requires the written agreement of the landlord and every joint tenant.
Do I have to re-protect the deposit when a tenant changes?
Only if you grant a new tenancy. A deed of assignment keeps the existing tenancy alive, so the deposit stays protected — you update the scheme record and re-serve prescribed information naming the current tenants. A surrender and regrant creates a new tenancy, so the deposit must be protected and prescribed information served within 30 days.
Can I return the leaving tenant’s share of the deposit?
Not out of the protected deposit while the tenancy continues. The deposit secures the tenancy as a whole and is not divisible until it ends. The incoming tenant should reimburse the leaver directly, and you should record in writing that the leaver has been paid and makes no further claim.
How much can I charge for the paperwork?
Up to £50 under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, or your reasonable costs if they genuinely exceed £50 and you can evidence them. You cannot add separate referencing, admin or inventory fees, and any charge above your actual reasonable costs is a prohibited payment.
What happens if the tenants argue over who gets what?
That is a private dispute between them. Deposit schemes adjudicate between landlord and tenant on deductions, not between tenants on how they divide the balance. Tell them your position on deductions in writing and leave the split to them.
Does the deposit cap change if I grant a new tenancy?
The cap is recalculated against the new rent: five weeks’ rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, six weeks where it is £50,000 or more. A rent rise gives you more headroom; a rent reduction can push an existing deposit over the cap, making the excess a prohibited payment.
Can I refuse to let the remaining tenants stay?
Yes. You are not obliged to agree to an assignment or to grant a new tenancy. If a notice to quit has been served, the tenancy ends for everyone and you can re-let. Just make sure you are not refusing for a reason that would amount to unlawful discrimination.
What if one of the sharers was never named on the agreement?
They are a permitted occupier, not a tenant, and have no security of tenure. If they want to stay after the named tenant leaves, they need a tenancy of their own — which you are free to grant or refuse, subject to the usual referencing and right to rent checks.
Written by The Landlords Portal Team, who track private rented sector legislation in England for landlords managing their own portfolios. This article is general information, not legal advice. Deposit and possession rules changed substantially on 1 May 2026 — check GOV.UK, your deposit scheme’s guidance or Shelter, or take advice, before acting on it.
