Scope: applies wherever a deposit is protected in an approved scheme — England and Wales alike. Deposit protection runs on the same Housing Act 2004 sections in both. Verified 10 August 2026.
Deposit adjudication is a documents-only process. Nobody visits. The adjudicator reads what both sides submit and decides — and the burden of proving a deduction is on the landlord.
That single fact explains almost every lost dispute. A landlord who "knows" the carpet was clean has nothing. A landlord with a dated photograph has a case.
What an adjudicator is actually deciding
- Was there a breach of the tenancy agreement?
- Is the loss beyond fair wear and tear, allowing for the length of the tenancy, the number and type of occupiers, and the age and quality of the item at the start?
- Is the amount claimed reasonable, and evidenced?
- Has betterment been accounted for — you are not entitled to a new carpet for a five-year-old one.
Each of those is an evidence question. None of them is a credibility contest.
The check-in inventory
What makes one work:
- Dated, and dated at the start of the tenancy, not "around then".
- Signed by the tenant, or sent to them with a stated period to comment and evidence that it was sent. An unsigned inventory the tenant never saw carries little weight.
- Descriptive, not conclusory. "Carpet: beige, light wear at doorway, small mark 10cm from radiator" beats "carpet: good condition".
- Photographs, dated, of every room, plus close-ups of anything already damaged.
- Meter readings and their photographs.
- Appliance ages where you know them, because betterment turns on it.
The check-out
Mirror the check-in exactly — same rooms, same order, same angles. An adjudicator comparing two documents in the same format can see the difference in seconds; comparing a detailed check-in against a scribbled check-out cannot.
Do it as close to the end of the tenancy as possible, and ideally with the tenant present.
Fair wear and tear is not a defence to everything, nor a trap
You cannot charge for the ordinary consequences of ordinary living over the period. Scuffed paint after three years, carpet flattened in a hallway, minor marks — that is what the tenancy bought.
You can charge for damage: burns, tears, stains, holes, missing items, and cleaning where the property was clean at check-in and is not at check-out.
The distinguishing question is not severity, it is cause. Time and use, or an event.
Evidencing the amount
An adjudicator will not accept a round number. Provide:
- Invoices or written quotes for the work — two if the sum is substantial;
- Age and expected life of the damaged item, so a proportionate figure can be reached;
- for cleaning, the invoice and the check-in evidence that it was clean before.
Claiming the full replacement cost of a worn item is the most common reason a good claim is reduced to a fraction.
What loses disputes
- No inventory, or one the tenant never saw.
- Undated photographs. Metadata helps, but a visible date in the document helps more.
- Check-out in a different format from check-in.
- Round-number claims with no invoice.
- Claiming betterment — new for old.
- Charging for cleaning with no evidence of the starting standard.
The deadline that sits behind all of it
None of this matters if the deposit was not protected within 30 days with prescribed information served. That failure is worth one to three times the deposit to the tenant and outweighs any deduction you were arguing about. Protect first, argue later.
Two dates, both recorded. Landlord HQ holds the protection date and the prescribed-information date separately, because the law treats them as two duties. See what it costs.
Information tool, not legal advice. Adjudication outcomes turn on the evidence submitted.