A landlord proposing to keep £200 for "deep cleaning" or £150 for a small scuff on a wall isn't automatically entitled to either. If your deposit is protected with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS), there's a free, evidence-based process specifically built to challenge exactly this — and it starts from a position that favours you, the tenant.
The starting position: it's your money until proven otherwise
TDS adjudicators work from a clear default: the deposit is treated as the tenant's money until the landlord (or agent) proves they're entitled to keep part of it. The standard of proof is "balance of probabilities" — is it more likely than not that the claimed damage or cost is genuinely down to you — not a higher "beyond doubt" standard, but still a real evidentiary bar the landlord has to clear with actual documentation, not just an assertion.
The two legal principles that win most disputes
- Fair wear and tear: normal deterioration from everyday use over time is the landlord's responsibility, not yours. A five-year-old carpet showing its age isn't "damage" — some wear is expected and legally protected.
- Betterment: a landlord can't use your deposit to leave the property in better condition than it started in. If they damaged item was already old, they can only claim the depreciated, like-for-like replacement cost — not the price of a brand-new upgrade. A washing machine damaged after 3 years of an expected 8-year life yields a claim for roughly its remaining value, not a full new appliance.
The deadline that catches people out
You generally need to raise a TDS dispute within three months minus one day from your move-out date (or from when the deposit became unprotected, if that applies) — miss this window and you may lose access to the free adjudication route entirely. Don't sit on this waiting for a "final" answer from your landlord; raise the dispute formally well within that window.
Building your evidence
- Check-in and check-out reports — the single most important documents. If a mark your landlord is now charging for was already noted at check-in, that claim collapses immediately.
- Dated, high-resolution photos from both move-in and move-out, ideally timestamped.
- Any invoices or quotes the landlord provides — check whether they're for genuine repair/replacement or inflated "full refurbishment" costs that ignore betterment.
- Your written correspondence disputing each specific deduction, itemised rather than a general objection.
How the process actually works
- Try direct resolution with your landlord first, in writing, itemising exactly which deductions you accept and which you dispute.
- If unresolved, raise a formal dispute through tenancydepositscheme.com — both sides submit their evidence and reasoning through a Dispute Application and Response.
- An independent adjudicator reviews the paper evidence only — there's no hearing, nothing verbal — and typically issues a decision within around 30 working days of receiving all evidence.
- The decision is final and binding on both parties through TDS's own process. There's no internal appeal, though either side can still pursue the matter through small claims court if they believe the decision was based on a genuine error.
Be realistic about outcomes: TDS data shows landlords do retain part of the disputed amount in a meaningful share of cases — particularly where they have a signed inventory with photos. Partial awards, splitting the amount between both sides, are common. A weak landlord case (no signed inventory, estimates instead of invoices, or claims that are really just normal wear and tear) is what tends to produce a full win for the tenant, not every dispute automatically.
See also: first confirm whether your deposit is legally protected, and if it's held elsewhere, how to dispute deductions with DPS or MyDeposits.