How to get your tenancy deposit back

Do this now, not at the end of the tenancy. Within 30 days of taking the deposit the landlord or agent must protect it and give you the prescribed information — which scheme holds it, the scheme's contact details, how to apply for its return and how disputes are resolved.

You can check directly with each scheme. In England and Wales the three approved schemes are the Deposit Protection Service, the Tenancy Deposit Scheme and mydeposits, and each has a free online checker. Scotland has SafeDeposits Scotland, Letting Protection Service Scotland and mydeposits Scotland; Northern Ireland has its own approved schemes.

If it was never protected, or was protected late, or the prescribed information was never given, the consequences for the landlord are serious. A court can order return of the deposit plus a penalty of between one and three times its value. It also blocks a section 21 notice in England until the deposit is returned or the position regularised.

Non-protection is common enough to be worth checking. It is most likely with individual landlords letting a single property rather than with agents.

Deposit disputes are decided on evidence, and the evidence that decides them is the inventory and check-in report. You are normally given one at the start and have a short window to comment on it and return it. Do it properly — note every mark, stain and defect, and photograph everything with the date visible.

Take the same photographs on the day you hand back the keys, from the same angles. A dated before-and-after pair is the most persuasive evidence an adjudicator sees, and it is free.

Keep every written report of a fault or repair request. If a landlord tries to charge for damage you reported and they failed to fix, the correspondence is decisive.

Keep receipts if you pay for professional cleaning — but note that a blanket requirement to pay for professional cleaning regardless of condition is generally an unfair term, and since the Tenant Fees Act 2019 in England a landlord cannot require a professional clean as a condition of the tenancy.

Fair wear and tear is deterioration through ordinary use over time. It is never deductible. Damage is harm beyond ordinary use, and it is deductible — but only at depreciated value.

That second point is where most money is recovered. Adjudicators apply betterment: if a carpet with a ten-year life is damaged in year eight, the landlord is entitled to the remaining two years of value, not to a new carpet. A landlord claiming full replacement cost for an old item is claiming too much, and saying so is usually enough.

Legitimate deductions include unpaid rent, unpaid bills where you were liable, damage beyond fair wear and tear at depreciated value, cleaning to return the property to its check-in standard, and removal of items you left behind.

Not legitimate: redecoration simply because the tenancy ended, replacing an item at full cost when it was already old, cleaning to a higher standard than at check-in, or charges for anything not evidenced.

Request the deposit in writing at the end of the tenancy, giving your forwarding address and bank details. Under the schemes the landlord must respond within a set period, generally ten days for custodial schemes.

If they agree, the scheme releases the money — usually within about ten working days.

If they propose deductions you dispute, do not accept them to get the rest released quickly. Raise a dispute with the scheme. The undisputed portion is released to you immediately, and only the disputed amount is held pending adjudication.

Adjudication is free, decided on the documents by an independent adjudicator, and the landlord bears the burden of proving each deduction. Submit your check-in and check-out reports, dated photographs from both ends, repair correspondence and any receipts, organised in order.

Adjudication decisions are usually issued within a few weeks and are binding if both parties agreed to use the scheme's dispute service. If the deposit was never protected, adjudication is not available and the route is the county court — where the penalty of one to three times the deposit also becomes available.

Free help is available from Shelter, Citizens Advice and local council tenancy relations officers.