Keep what the damage really cost, and show the tenant exactly why. Each item is set against the check-in they signed and costed for its age, so the figure stands up. If they still say no, the deposit scheme gets one PDF with both reports and the photos.
LetCompliance works out deposit deductions for UK landlords from the check-in and the check-out. The check-out is copied from the check-in, so every item is paired, only what got worse can be costed, and each claim is apportioned for the item’s age and the tenant’s share. The deductions go to the tenant when the tenancy ends, and a dispute pack puts the evidence in one PDF for the deposit scheme.
£0for each check-in or check-out you walk
Dexters’ own list prices an inventory from £144 and a check-in report from £156, extra on all but its Premium service. Here you walk them on your phone, as often as the tenancies turn over.
A slight change is flagged as the wear schemes usually allow before you charge for it, and an item past its expected life comes to nothing. What is left is a figure the tenant can check line by line.
Each item is graded and described at check-in, with photos from your phone, and the tenant reviews and signs the report. A scuff noted on the first day stays on the record, so nobody claims for it at the end.
Enter what it costs to replace, how old it is and how long it should last, and the claim is apportioned for the life it had left. The working prints with it, so the tenant and the scheme can see how you got there.
From the sample account on 18 Oct 2026: a tenant’s deposit as the landlord records it and as she sees it, and the deposit decision when a tenancy ends with rent still owed.
Megan Price’s deposit at 14 Larch Avenue, Leeds, is on the landlord’s Deposits page with its scheme and dates, and the same amount, scheme and protection date are in her tenant portal. Nobody has to ask where the money is.
End tenancy asks what happens to the deposit. Opened for Lewis Grantham, whose September rent is unpaid, it chose Partial return and put the rent in as a deduction, ready to change or remove. Costings from a check-out arrive the same way. Here it is with Full return chosen, then as it opened; nothing was ended or sent.
Four steps, from the day the tenant moves in to the day the deposit is decided, on a computer or a phone.
Room by room from UK templates, each item graded with a note and up to 10 photos, then sent to the tenant to review and sign. Once signed, the record is locked.
The check-out takes the check-in’s rooms and items, so every item is paired. Only its condition on the day and the new photos are yours to add.
What got worse comes first. A slight change is marked as the kind usually treated as wear, an item with no check-in record is not offered for costing, and each claim is apportioned for its age with a share of 25, 50, 75 or 100%.
End tenancy fills the deductions in from the costings and any unpaid rent and emails the tenant the list with the scheme’s contact route. If they dispute it, the dispute pack downloads as one PDF.
LetCompliance never decides what is fair wear and tear. It sets each item against the check-in and does the arithmetic; the judgement is yours, and in a dispute the adjudicator’s.
The inventories, the rent ledger, the signed agreement and the activity log sit in the same account, so nothing is gathered again when the tenancy ends.
Check-in and check-out reports for every property, up to 40 rooms, 60 items a room and 10 photos an item, and visits in between with the tenant told in writing.
A missed payment stays on the tenancy’s ledger, and its rent statement shows what was due and what was paid, the record the schemes ask for. When the tenancy ends, the unpaid rent is filled in as a deduction.
The agreement sets out what the tenant took on, and the schemes ask to see it signed. It sits in the account with each step of its signing and the time it happened.
Every send, signature and change on a property is logged with its time, and the dispute pack prints that timeline on its cover.
Inventories, the check-out comparison and the costing are on every paid plan, from Single for 1 property to Professional for any number, and in agency workspaces. The 3-day trial opens them too, and the dispute pack downloads on a paid plan.
A landlord can deduct for a loss the tenant caused under the tenancy: damage beyond fair wear and tear, cleaning to bring the home back to how it was at check-in, and rent or bills the tenant owed. Each deduction needs evidence, and it should leave the landlord no better off than at the start.
A burn, a stain or a broken door, set against the check-in. The schemes look for the fitting remedy: a repair or a contribution where that would do, a replacement only where the item is beyond economic repair. Damage past the deposit is a court claim: see the guide to tenant damage.
The tenant only has to leave the home as clean as the check-in recorded it. A landlord can clean and claim a reasonable cost, and a fixed charge is judged on whether it is in proportion.
Unpaid rent can come out of the deposit, shown on a statement of the rent account, and it helps to show the tenant was told.
A utility bill in the tenant’s name is a debt to the supplier, so the schemes rarely award it to the landlord. Bills paid as part of the rent normally count as rent.
The deposit is not insurance. An item part way through its life is claimed for the life it had left, and one at the end of its life is not replaced at the tenant’s cost. The deposit deduction calculator runs that sum for a single item.
Fair wear and tear, the marks of ordinary living, which grow with the length of the tenancy and the number of people at home. A landlord’s own time is generally not claimable. The guide to fair wear and tear goes through it room by room.
The deposit schemes’ joint guide works through a carpet that costs £500 to replace, is two years old and should last five. It had three years left, so the claim is £300, not £500. At a 50% share for the tenant, where half the damage is wear, it comes to £150. LetCompliance does this sum for each item on the check-out.
Source: The deposit schemes’ joint Guide to Deposits, Disputes and Damages (opens in a new tab)
Taking, holding and returning a deposit, each rule read at its source. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have rules of their own.
A deposit taken for an assured tenancy has to be placed with an authorised scheme, and the Prescribed Information given to the tenant, within 30 days of receiving it. Protecting a deposit, step by step.
A deposit is security for what the tenant owes under the tenancy, and it can be no more than five weeks’ rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, or six weeks’ where it is £50,000 or more. On a £1,200 monthly rent, five weeks’ rent comes to £1,384.61; check a deposit against the cap.
Source: Tenant Fees Act 2019, Schedule 1, paragraph 2 (opens in a new tab)
The deposit is the tenant’s money, and a landlord needs evidence to support any deduction at the end of the tenancy. What makes a check-in hold up in a dispute sets out the evidence that counts.
Source: GOV.UK, Tenant Fees Act 2019 statutory guidance (opens in a new tab)
Once you and the tenant agree how much comes back, the deposit has to be returned within 10 days. How long a landlord has to return a deposit covers what starts that clock.
Source: GOV.UK, Deposit protection schemes and landlords (opens in a new tab)
Each scheme resolves disputes at no charge if both sides agree to use its service, and its decision is final. The deposit stays protected until the dispute is settled, and there may be a time limit to raise one.
Source: GOV.UK, Tenancy deposit protection: disputes (opens in a new tab)
The landlord. The schemes’ own guide says the adjudicator must be persuaded, on the balance of probabilities, that the tenant broke the tenancy and that it cost the landlord something.
Source: The deposit schemes’ joint Guide to Deposits, Disputes and Damages (opens in a new tab)
How the three schemes differ, in cost and in how they hold the money, is set out in the TDS, DPS and mydeposits comparison. Read on GOV.UK, legislation.gov.uk and the schemes’ own guidance on 18 Oct 2026. This is not legal advice.
An agent handles the check-out and the claim within full management, at 12% to 21.6% of the rent on agents’ own lists. A spreadsheet costs nothing but leaves the comparison, the sums and the evidence to you. LetCompliance does them on every paid plan, from £7.99 a month; to put a figure on your own let, work out what an agent would take from your rent.
Straight answers on what can be deducted, fair wear and tear, disputes and what it costs.
Still have a question?
The cost of a loss the tenant caused under the tenancy: damage beyond fair wear and tear, cleaning back to the check-in standard, and rent or bills they owed. Each deduction needs evidence, such as the signed check-in and check-out reports, dated photos and an invoice, and should leave the landlord no better off than at the start.
The deterioration that comes from ordinary use and from age. The deposit schemes weigh the length of the tenancy, how many people lived there and the age and quality of the item at the start, so a family home after three years is expected to show more wear than a flat let to one person for a year. It cannot be deducted.
Not the full price of a new one when the old carpet was part worn. The schemes apportion the cost for the life it had left, so a carpet halfway through its expected life is claimed at about half the price of a new one, and less where some of the damage is ordinary wear.
Yes, where the home was left less clean than at check-in. The tenant only has to return it to the standard recorded at the start. A landlord can do the cleaning and claim a reasonable cost, and a fixed cleaning charge is judged on whether it is in proportion to the cleaning needed.
Yes. The schemes look for a statement of the rent account showing what was due and what was paid, which a bank statement alone does less well. In LetCompliance, ending the tenancy fills any unpaid rent on the ledger in as a deduction for you to check.
The deposit stays protected in the scheme until the dispute is settled. The scheme’s dispute resolution service costs nothing and is optional, as an alternative to court, but both of you have to agree to use it. Each side gives evidence and the decision is final.
Then there is nothing to set the end of the tenancy against, and the schemes’ joint guide says a damage claim without check-in and check-out reports is likely to fail. LetCompliance marks such items as having no baseline and does not offer them for costing. You can still gather dated photos or messages from the start and offer a smaller figure: once you both agree, the deposit goes back within 10 days.
From what it costs to replace the item, its age and its expected life, which you enter, and the tenant’s share of the damage: 25, 50, 75 or 100%. The claim is apportioned for the life the item had left, so one past its expected life comes to nothing, and the working prints beside the figure on the check-out report.
One PDF: a cover with the tenancy, the deposit, its scheme, the date it was protected and whether the Prescribed Information was served, a timeline from the property’s activity log, then the check-in and check-out reports with their photos, each claim with its working, and the total.
Inventories, the comparison and the costing are on every paid plan, from Single at £7.99 a month for 1 property to Professional at £49 for any number, with no VAT added, and in agency workspaces. The 3-day trial opens them too, and the dispute pack downloads once a paid plan is on.
The free plan is £0 for one property and keeps rent tracked on the tenancy with receipts, the tenant portal with repairs, the certificate dates with email reminders and the 0 to 100 compliance score. Making Tax Digital and Direct Debit collection need Single.
