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Terms of service

1. About these terms

These terms are an agreement between you and DepositSafe Ltd, a company registered in Ireland under number [CRO number], with its registered office at [registered address] ("DepositSafe", "we", "us"). They apply when you create an account or use DepositSafe to pay, hold or receive a rental deposit.

Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights as a consumer, or the rights that landlords and tenants have under the Residential Tenancies Acts.

2. What DepositSafe does

DepositSafe holds the security deposit for a residential tenancy in Ireland on behalf of the landlord and the tenant, records the condition of the property at check-in, and releases the deposit to the landlord after the tenant confirms the move-in, or refunds it to the tenant, according to section 5.

We are not a party to your tenancy agreement, we are not a letting agent, and we do not give legal advice. The landlord and the tenant remain responsible for their obligations to each other, including registering the tenancy with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).

3. Your account

  • You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a contract.
  • The information you give us must be accurate and kept up to date.
  • You are responsible for keeping your password safe and for what happens in your account. Tell us straight away at support@depositsafe.ie if you think someone else has accessed it.
  • One person, one account. You may not open an account on someone else's behalf without their authority.

4. Identity verification

The landlord must verify their identity before the deposit is paid to them. For the tenant, verification is optional and has no effect on the deposit. We ask for a photo identity document, a proof of address and a photo of your face, which a member of our team compares with the document. We use this to make sure that the people who verify are who they say they are.

We may refuse or withdraw verification if documents are unclear, inconsistent or appear not to be genuine. How we handle these documents, and for how long we keep them, is explained in our privacy policy.

5. How we hold your deposit

5.1 The amount

Under the Residential Tenancies (No.2) Act 2021, a deposit for a tenancy created on or after 9 August 2021 cannot be more than one month's rent. DepositSafe does not accept a deposit above that amount.

5.2 Paying the deposit

The tenant accepts the offer and pays the deposit in one step, by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Payments are processed by Stripe Payments Europe Ltd; card details are entered directly with Stripe and never reach DepositSafe's servers. The deposit counts as paid only when Stripe confirms the payment.

5.3 While the deposit is held

The deposit is held in an account in DepositSafe Ltd's name with Stripe, kept separate from the money we use to run our business. Neither the landlord nor the tenant can withdraw it alone, and we will only move it as set out in this section. No interest is paid on the deposit.

5.4 Check-in

At the start of the tenancy the tenant records the condition of the property in the app, with photos. This record is available to both parties and can be used as evidence in any later disagreement about the condition of the property.

5.5 Releasing the deposit

When the tenant has the keys, they confirm the move-in in the app. If the landlord has verified their identity, we then release the whole deposit to the landlord, by bank transfer to the account the landlord has registered with us. Confirming the move-in cannot be undone.

From that point the deposit is held by the landlord, who remains responsible for returning it at the end of the tenancy as the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 requires.

If the tenancy does not start, for example because the home is not available or is not as agreed, the tenant reports a problem in the app instead of confirming the move-in. Any refund is made to the card used to pay the deposit.

5.6 Disputes

If a problem is reported before the deposit is released, both sides can submit evidence, such as the listing, photos and messages. A member of our team reviews it and decides whether the deposit is refunded to the tenant or released to the landlord. While a dispute is open, the deposit stays held.

Our dispute process is voluntary and does not replace the Residential Tenancies Board. Either party, and in particular the tenant, can refer a dispute about the deposit to the RTB, within the time limits the RTB sets for each type of dispute. Using our process does not take away that right, and we will act on any RTB determination or court order about the deposit.

5.7 Card disputes and chargebacks

If the person who paid the deposit disputes the card payment with their bank, the funds are frozen by the card network while the bank decides. The deposit stays frozen until the bank's process ends. If the bank returns the money to the payer, it returns the whole payment, the service fee included, and the deposit is treated as refunded and is no longer held by us.

6. Fees and your right to cancel

6.1 The service fee

The tenant pays a service fee of 4% of the deposit. It is charged together with the deposit, in a single card payment, and the exact amount is shown before the tenant pays. The landlord pays no fee.

The service fee is our charge for holding and releasing the deposit. It is not part of the deposit: it is not passed to the landlord, and we never take a fee out of the deposit itself.

6.2 Cancelling within 14 days

If you are a consumer, you can cancel the service within 14 days of paying, without giving a reason, by emailing hello@depositsafe.ie. If you cancel while the deposit is still held, we refund the deposit and the service fee to the card you paid with, and the contract with the landlord for that deposit ends.

Before you pay, we ask you to request that the service starts immediately. You lose the right to cancel once the service has been fully performed, which is when the deposit has been released to the landlord or refunded to you. From that point the service fee is not refundable, including where the deposit is returned to you after a problem was reported.

7. Using DepositSafe properly

You agree not to use DepositSafe for anything unlawful, not to provide false documents or evidence, and not to interfere with the service or with other users' accounts. We may suspend an account where we reasonably believe these terms are being broken, or where the law requires us to.

8. Our responsibility to you

We hold and move deposits with reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for the condition of the property, for whether the tenancy goes ahead, or for what the landlord and the tenant owe each other under the tenancy.

We are not liable for losses that were not reasonably foreseeable, or for losses caused by events outside our reasonable control. Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.

9. Closing your account

You can close your account at any time by contacting us. If a deposit is still held when an account is closed, it continues to be handled as set out in section 5 until it is released or refunded. We can close an account with reasonable notice, or straight away if it is being used in breach of these terms.

10. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. If a change affects you materially, we will tell you by email at least 30 days before it takes effect. A deposit already paid continues to be governed by the terms in force when it was paid, unless the change is required by law.

11. Complaints and contact

If you are unhappy with our service, write to support@depositsafe.ie and we will respond within [number] working days.

12. Law and courts

These terms are governed by the laws of Ireland, and the Irish courts have jurisdiction. This does not affect the jurisdiction of the Residential Tenancies Board over disputes between landlords and tenants.