What can a letting agent legally deduct from my deposit?

What can be deducted

• Unpaid rent and any unpaid utility bills or council tax you were responsible for.
• Damage beyond fair wear and tear, caused by you, your household or your visitors.
• Cleaning, but only to bring the property back to the standard recorded when you moved in.
• Missing items listed on the inventory, and replacement keys or fobs.
• Rubbish removal where belongings have been left behind.

Every one of those has to be evidenced by the landlord or agent, not merely asserted. The burden of proof sits with them.

What cannot

• Fair wear and tear from ordinary living.
• Pre-existing damage that was there when you arrived.
• An upgrade or improvement dressed up as a repair.
• The full cost of replacing something old with something new.
• Any tenant fee, which is unlawful in Scotland since 2012 and in England since 2019.
• Redecoration simply because a new tenant is coming.

Fair wear and tear, in practice

Adjudicators weigh four things: how old the item was, its quality, how long you lived there, and how many people lived there. A four year old carpet in a family let is expected to look worn. The same carpet with a cigarette burn is damage.

Scuffed paint after two years is wear. A hole in the plasterboard is damage. Limescale on a shower screen is cleaning. A cracked screen is damage. The distinction is about cause and degree, not about whether the landlord is annoyed.

The betterment rule

A landlord cannot end up better off than before. If a seven year old carpet with a ten year life is ruined, you owe the remaining value, not the price of a new carpet. Deductions are apportioned for age and expected lifespan, and this is the single most common reason claims are reduced at adjudication.

The same applies to painting, white goods and furniture. Ask for the age of the item and the basis of the calculation, in writing.

How to challenge, for free

1. Ask for the deduction in writing, itemised, with the evidence and the calculation behind each line.
2. Compare it against the check in inventory and the check out report. If no inventory was taken, the landlord's evidence is very weak and adjudicators treat it that way.
3. Reply in writing, accepting anything fair and disputing the rest with reasons. Partial agreement is normal and speeds everything up.
4. If it is not resolved, raise a dispute with the scheme holding the deposit. Adjudication is free, decided on documents, and you do not need a solicitor.
5. Submit photographs with dates, the inventory, correspondence about repairs you reported, and anything showing the condition at both ends.

If the deposit was never protected

This is a separate and much more serious failure. In England, a deposit must be protected within thirty days and prescribed information served on you. In Scotland it must be lodged with one of the three approved schemes within thirty working days.

Where that did not happen, a tenant can claim up to three times the deposit in England, and the First-tier Tribunal in Scotland can order the same. Protecting the deposit but never serving the prescribed information is a breach in its own right. Check your scheme now rather than at the end of the tenancy: all of the schemes let you search by tenancy details, and it takes a couple of minutes.