Can anyone tell me how quickly landlords/their agents should inform you if they're intending keeping whole/partial deposit?

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Just that really. I moved ten days ago. The letting agent hasn't responded to any of my three emails. I've just rung and finally got hold of someone who assured me the relevant person would contact me ASAP.
Surely there should have been some kind of contact by now?

Have you checked your contrct? The timeline should be there.

www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/overview

Basically your deposit should be in a scheme and if you can't speak to them you can raise a dispute wih the scheme. Once the amount is agreed you should get it back within 10 days.

Hope that helps. I hope it IS in a scheme... but the link does explain what you do if it isnt

I don't have the contract to hand but will check it when I get home, thanks. Also meant to say that I know the deposit was registered as I received the certificate when I moved in. Owever, I've checked the three deposit schemes online and none of them appear to be currently holding my deposit.
This is big estate agent with offices all over the country so I'm not worried they've done anything shady - I'm just annoyed that I've heard nothing for ten days.

Thanks Elysian. So they have to return it within ten days of agreeing the amount...but it doesn't specify how long they can take to agree an amount. Hmm. I hopes this woman gets back to me soon, getting quite stressed. I'm certainly intending disputing if they're unreasonable - I was without hot water for the final week of livings thee, it was crap.

No there is no timeline for telling you how much they'll hold back, annoyingly. Apparently it's so that the landlord/agent has time to get quotes for repairs.

If no contact has been made four months and one day after you moved out, it's apparently automatically refunded, but we didn't let it drag that long to see if it was true!

The more concerning thing is that if no deductions have been registered yet, your deposit should still show as registered with the appropriate scheme. You can contact them and eventually they'll agree to chase the agent. I found constantly chasing the agent myself paid off in the end, though.

Were you there for the final checkout? Having a copy of that might help.

you can raise a dispute with the deposit service - find out which one it is and give them a ring.

if all else fails they are probably a member of something - ARLA, RICS - both of whom have helplines and they might be able to help expedite

Thanks Anxious, that's very helpful. No I could not be there for the final inspection, annoyingly.
Good point about them needing time for getting quotes for repairs. I will, however, still dispute these. For example, I informed the LL that despite all the vents being open, damp was causing paint in spare room to scale off. He did bugger all about this or the damp. He chose not to fix broken radiators or install any adequate heating. Grr - ranting, sorry!
I wonder why deposit isn't showing as registered.

Brilliant - thanks Elysian!