One of your joint tenants has just told you they’re moving out. The others want to stay. Somewhere in the middle of all this 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 single most misunderstood situation in shared housing, and it got significantly 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 now end the whole tenancy for everyone, on their own, 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, and the deposit-protection trap that now blocks possession claims under almost every ground.
Key takeaways
- Since 1 May 2026 there are no fixed terms. A joint tenant can serve a notice to quit at any time, giving at least two months and expiring at the end of a rent period.
- One joint tenant’s notice ends the tenancy for all of them. The remaining tenants do not have to agree, and they have no automatic right to stay.
- You have three realistic routes: a deed of assignment, a surrender and regrant, or simply letting the notice run its course.
- If the route you choose creates a new tenancy, the deposit must be protected and prescribed information served within 30 days — all over again.
- Deposit non-compliance now blocks possession under nearly every Section 8 ground, not just the old Section 21. This is a much bigger risk than it used to be.
- Never refund one tenant’s “share” out of the protected deposit mid-tenancy. Let the incoming tenant pay the outgoing tenant directly.
- You can charge a maximum of £50 (including VAT) for varying or assigning a tenancy at the tenant’s request — or your reasonable costs, if lower.
What a joint tenancy actually is
In a joint tenancy, two or more people sign a single tenancy agreement and hold one tenancy between them. They are not four separate tenants with four separate rooms — they are one legal tenant made up of several people.
That produces joint and several liability: each tenant is responsible for the whole of the rent and the whole of any damage, not just their notional share. If three of your four tenants stop paying, the fourth is legally liable for all of it. This is why joint tenancies are attractive to landlords, and it is also why the deposit cannot be neatly carved up between individuals.
The deposit is a single sum held against a single tenancy. It doesn’t matter that Rachel transferred £600 and Tom transferred £600 — the scheme holds £1,200 against the tenancy, and it stays there until the tenancy ends. That one point resolves most of the confusion landlords run into.
What changed on 1 May 2026
The Renters’ Rights Act converted every existing assured shorthold tenancy into a periodic assured tenancy overnight. For joint tenancies specifically, three changes matter:
- No fixed term to hide behind. You can no longer rely on a 12-month term to keep a group together. Any of them can leave with two months’ notice.
- One tenant’s notice binds everyone. A notice to quit given by only one or some of the joint tenants is valid and ends the entire tenancy. Under the old law this was a contested legal grey area; it is now explicit.
- Withdrawal needs unanimity. If the leaving tenant changes their mind, or wants to give shorter notice, all the other joint tenants and you must agree. If anyone objects, the tenancy ends.
That last point catches landlords out badly. A tenant who serves notice in a moment of temper, then apologises a fortnight later, has still started a clock that only unanimous agreement can stop. Get any withdrawal signed by every tenant in writing.
When one joint tenant leaves: the six steps
Get the notice in writing
Ask the others: stay or go?
Choose your route
Reference the replacement
Fix the deposit & paperwork
Update the inventory
Your three routes when one joint tenant leaves
Once a tenant has announced they’re going, you are choosing between three legal mechanisms. They have very different consequences for the deposit, so pick deliberately rather than drifting into one.
Route 1: Deed of assignment (swap the tenant, keep the tenancy)
The outgoing tenant assigns their interest in the tenancy to an incoming tenant. The tenancy itself continues unbroken — same agreement, same start date, same deposit.
This is usually the cleanest option, and it is the one the deposit schemes prefer. Because there is no new tenancy, the existing protection remains valid. You notify your scheme of the change, it updates its records, and you reissue the prescribed information showing the new line-up of tenants. All three schemes — the DPS, mydeposits and the TDS — have a tenant transfer or change-of-tenant process designed for exactly this.
Everyone must sign: outgoing tenant, incoming tenant, all remaining tenants, and you. Miss a signature and you may have created a surrender and regrant by accident, which lands you in Route 2 without realising it.
Route 2: Surrender and regrant (end it, start a fresh tenancy)
The existing tenancy ends by agreement and you grant a brand new tenancy to the remaining tenants plus the replacement. This is the belt-and-braces option, and many landlords prefer it because it gives a clean documentary line.
The cost is administrative. A new tenancy means the deposit clock resets completely:
- Protect the deposit against the new tenancy within 30 days of receiving it.
- Serve fresh prescribed information on every tenant within the same 30 days.
- Reissue the compliance documents: a current gas safety certificate, the EICR, the EPC and the latest How to Rent guide.
- Recheck the deposit cap. It is still five weeks’ rent where annual rent is under £50,000, or six weeks at £50,000 and above — so if you’ve raised the rent since, the cap may have moved.
Do not assume the deposit “carries over” because the money never physically moved. If it is a new tenancy, it needs new protection.
Route 3: Let the notice run
If you don’t want to keep the remaining tenants — or they can’t afford the rent without the leaver — you can simply let the notice to quit take effect. The tenancy ends for everybody on the expiry date, you carry out a check-out, and you deal with the deposit as a normal end of tenancy.
Be careful here. If the remaining tenants stay past the expiry date and you keep accepting rent, you risk creating a new implied tenancy on unclear terms — with an unprotected deposit attached. If they won’t go, you need a possession ground; our guide on what to do when a tenant won’t leave after a notice to quit covers the post-Section 21 process.
| Route | Is it a new tenancy? | Deposit action | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deed of assignment | No | Notify scheme, update records, reissue prescribed information | A straight swap, everyone co-operative |
| Surrender & regrant | Yes | Re-protect within 30 days, serve fresh prescribed information | Rent or terms are changing too |
| Let the notice run | No — the tenancy ends | Full end-of-tenancy process and return | You want the property back or a new group |
The deposit trap that now blocks possession
This is the part landlords most need to absorb, because the consequences changed materially in May 2026.
Under the old regime, failing to protect a deposit or serve prescribed information blocked a Section 21 notice. Section 21 is gone. In its place, deposit compliance is now a gateway to almost every Section 8 ground. If the deposit isn’t properly protected and the prescribed information hasn’t been served, a court will not grant you possession — whether you’re claiming rent arrears, breach of tenancy, or that you want to sell. The narrow exception is the anti-social behaviour grounds.
Put bluntly: a paperwork slip during a routine tenant swap can leave you unable to evict a non-paying tenant eighteen months later. On top of that, the tenant can bring a claim for between one and three times the deposit, and you must return the deposit before you can serve a valid notice.
The fix is unglamorous but reliable: every time the composition of a joint tenancy changes, treat deposit protection as a task to be actively re-confirmed rather than assumed. Our guide to deposit protection schemes sets out the mechanics for each scheme.
Refunding the leaver’s share — the mistake to avoid
The departing tenant will almost certainly ask for “their” £600 back. Resist the instinct to release it from the protected deposit.
The deposit secures the whole tenancy against damage and arrears that may not surface for months. If you release a quarter of it now and the group trashes the kitchen in November, you are short. Worse, releasing part of a protected deposit mid-tenancy can breach the scheme’s rules and muddy your protection.
The standard, clean solution is that the incoming tenant pays the outgoing tenant directly for their share, outside the deposit. The protected sum never moves, your security stays intact at the full amount, and the money changes hands between the two people who actually care about it. Record the fact that this has happened in the deed of assignment so nobody can later claim you kept their money.
If the outgoing tenant insists on a formal position on damage, you can carry out an inspection at the point of departure and note the condition — but make clear in writing that no deductions are being finalised, because the tenancy is continuing.
What you can and can’t charge
The Tenant Fees Act 2019 governs this, and its restrictions now apply to every tenancy regardless of when it started.
- Permitted: up to £50 including VAT for a variation, assignment or novation of the tenancy requested by the tenant — or your reasonable costs if they are lower than £50. Be ready to evidence those costs.
- Not permitted: referencing fees for the incoming tenant, admin charges, “re-let” fees, inventory fees, or a charge for reissuing the tenancy agreement beyond the £50 cap.
- Also capped: rent in advance is now limited to one month, so you cannot use a tenant swap as an opportunity to ask for a larger upfront payment.
A first breach can attract a financial penalty of up to £5,000, and repeat breaches can be treated as a criminal offence. The £50 rarely covers the real work involved, but charging more is not an option.
Disputes between the tenants themselves
A common flashpoint: the leaver wants their share, the remaining tenants say the leaver caused the damage to the bathroom door and shouldn’t get it. Landlords often get dragged into refereeing this.
You should know that the deposit schemes’ free dispute resolution cannot help here. Scheme adjudication resolves landlord-versus-tenant disagreements about deductions. It has no jurisdiction over how tenants divide money between themselves.
If the tenants can’t agree, that is a civil dispute between them, and the small claims track handles claims up to £10,000. Your role is to stay neutral, hold the deposit properly, and provide copies of the inventory and check-in report if asked. Getting drawn into taking sides is how landlords end up as defendants. If a dispute does turn into a deductions argument with you at the end of the tenancy, our guide on handling disputes over rental property damages covers the evidence you’ll need.
Reference the replacement properly
Because liability is joint and several, an incoming tenant is taking on responsibility for the entire rent — and you are accepting them as security for it. Groups will often present you with a friend-of-a-friend and expect a rubber stamp.
Reference them exactly as you would a new applicant: affordability, previous landlord reference, right to rent check, and a guarantor where income is thin. Note that you cannot operate a blanket ban on tenants receiving benefits or with children, and you cannot invite bidding above the advertised rent. Our tenant referencing guide sets out a compliant process.
Where the change is driven by a couple separating rather than a housemate moving on, the emotional dynamics are different and the legal risk is higher — we cover that in joint tenants separating or divorcing.
Common mistakes
- Assuming the remaining tenants can simply carry on. A valid notice to quit ends the tenancy for everyone. If you want the others to stay, you must actively create that outcome.
- Accepting a verbal withdrawal of notice. It needs every joint tenant’s agreement, in writing.
- Creating a new tenancy without re-protecting. The most expensive error on this list.
- Paying out a share of the protected deposit. Let the tenants settle it between themselves.
- Not updating the inventory. An incoming tenant who never signed a check-in report can credibly deny responsibility for anything at the end.
- Charging more than £50. Tempting, and unlawful.
What to do next
When a joint tenant tells you they’re leaving, the sequence that keeps you safe is short. Get the notice in writing and check it’s valid. Ask the remaining tenants, promptly, whether they want to stay and whether they can afford to. Decide consciously between assignment and a fresh tenancy. Reference the replacement properly. Then treat the deposit as the last and most important step — confirm with your scheme, in writing, that the protection is valid for the current line-up of tenants, and reissue the prescribed information.
Ten minutes of admin at the point of change is the difference between a routine swap and discovering, two years later, that you can’t enforce anything.
Frequently asked questions
Can one joint tenant really end the tenancy for everyone?
Yes. Under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, a notice to quit given by one or some of the joint tenants on a periodic assured tenancy is valid and ends the tenancy for all of them. The others do not need to agree and cannot veto it.
Do I have to re-protect the deposit when a tenant changes?
It depends on the route. With a deed of assignment the tenancy continues, so the existing protection remains valid — you notify the scheme and reissue prescribed information. With a surrender and regrant you have created 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?
You shouldn’t. The deposit secures the whole tenancy, which is continuing. The standard approach is for the incoming tenant to pay the outgoing tenant directly for their share, leaving the protected sum untouched. Record this in the assignment paperwork.
How much can I charge for the paperwork?
Up to £50 including VAT for a variation or assignment made at the tenant’s request, or your reasonable costs if lower. You cannot charge separately for referencing the incoming tenant.
What happens if the tenants argue over who gets what?
That is a dispute between them, not something the deposit schemes can adjudicate. They can pursue each other through the small claims track, which covers claims up to £10,000. Stay neutral and supply the inventory and check-in evidence if asked.
Does the deposit cap change if I grant a new tenancy?
The cap is recalculated against the new rent: five weeks’ rent where annual rent is under £50,000, six weeks at £50,000 or above. If you’ve increased the rent, check the deposit you hold still sits within the cap.
Can I refuse to let the remaining tenants stay?
Yes. Once a valid notice to quit expires the tenancy ends for everyone, and the remaining tenants have no automatic right to a new one. You are free to decline — though if they stay on and you accept rent, you may create a new tenancy by implication, so be clear in writing about your intentions.
Written by the Landlords Portal team — experienced UK landlords covering the private rented sector in England. This article is general information, not legal advice. Deposit and possession errors are expensive; take advice on your specific circumstances before acting.
