Landlord Won't Return Your Deposit? What To Do Next
You've moved out. The deposit hasn't come back, or it has come back with a chunk missing and a vague explanation attached.
This is what to do about it. The process is free, it's decided by an independent adjudicator, and the burden of proof is on your landlord rather than you.
If you haven't moved out yet, start with ten things that get your deposit back. For the underlying law, see your deposit rights.
The short version
- 10 working days to release the deposit once the amount is agreed.
- Free adjudication through the scheme if you can't agree. Binding, independent, and it costs you nothing.
- They must prove each deduction, with check-in evidence and an actual cost. You don't have to prove you didn't do it.
- Check it was protected at all. If it wasn't, that's a separate claim worth up to three times the deposit.
Step one: check it was protected
Before anything else. Search all three schemes by property address:
If it was never protected, or you never received the prescribed information within 30 days, you have a county court claim for the deposit back plus a penalty of one to three times its value. That's a different and much stronger position than a dispute about cleaning. Take advice, but don't let it pass.
Step two: ask properly, in writing
Email, dated, with your forwarding address and bank details. Ask for the deposit to be returned and, if any deduction is proposed, for an itemised breakdown with evidence.
Keep it factual. Something like: "I moved out on [date]. Please confirm the amount you propose to return and provide an itemised breakdown of any deductions, with supporting evidence and costs."
Asking for the breakdown up front matters. It's much harder for a landlord to invent a figure once they've been asked to justify it in writing.
Step three: work out whether the deduction is fair
Test each item against four questions.
- Was it like that at check-in? Compare against the inventory. Pre-existing damage cannot be charged.
- Is it fair wear and tear? Deterioration from normal living can never be deducted, in any circumstances.
- Have they allowed for age? You can only be charged for the useful life you removed. Decoration is treated as lasting about five years, so a full repaint of four year old walls isn't reasonable.
- Is there an actual cost? An invoice or a quote. A round number with a one line description is not evidence.
Common deductions that often don't survive scrutiny: "professional cleaning" as a blanket charge, redecoration of already-aged décor, replacing a whole carpet for one mark, and general "wear and tear" charges which are a contradiction in terms.
Step four: negotiate
Reply in writing, item by item. Accept what's fair, because doing so makes the rest of your position stronger, and set out why the others aren't.
Reference your evidence: the check-in inventory, your dated photographs, the age of the item. Propose a figure.
A lot of disputes settle here, because a landlord facing a documented, reasonable response usually recognises that adjudication will not go their way.
Step five: use the scheme's free adjudication
If you can't agree, raise a dispute with the scheme. Do it promptly, since there are time limits.
How it works: the disputed amount is held, both sides submit evidence, and an independent adjudicator decides how it's split. Free, and the decision is binding.
What to submit:
- The check-in inventory and check-out report
- Dated photographs from move-in and move-out
- Your tenancy agreement
- All correspondence, especially anything where you reported disrepair
- A clear item by item response explaining what you dispute and why
How to write it: calmly, and in the same order as their claim. Adjudicators read a great many of these, and the ones that succeed are specific rather than aggrieved. "Item 3, oven cleaning £75: the check-in inventory records the oven as 'used, marked'. Photograph attached shows the condition on the day I left" beats several paragraphs about how unfair it all is.
Remember throughout that the landlord has to prove the loss. If they submit no check-in evidence, their claim is in serious trouble regardless of what you submit.
If the deposit was never protected
Adjudication isn't available, because there's no scheme holding it. Your route is the county court, for the deposit plus the one to three times penalty.
Get free advice first from Shelter or Citizens Advice. Claims like this are commonly brought and often settle once a landlord understands the exposure, but the process needs doing properly.
How long it takes
- Agreed amount: released within 10 working days.
- Negotiation: usually a week or two of emails.
- Adjudication: typically several weeks from submitting evidence to a decision.
- Court: months.
Don't let a landlord's silence run the clock down. Chase in writing, and raise the dispute rather than waiting.
Things that weaken your position
- Being abusive. It ends up in the evidence bundle.
- Ignoring the parts you do owe. Disputing everything makes the genuine points harder to see.
- Missing deadlines. Schemes have time limits on raising disputes.
- Having no photographs. This is the big one. Without a "before", it's their word against yours, and they have the inventory.
And if the property had problems
If you spent the tenancy chasing repairs that never came, that's relevant context and worth including. It doesn't cancel a legitimate deduction, but it does bear on the condition of the property and on whether damage was disrepair rather than tenant fault.
Related: when a landlord won't repair, and claiming money back from your landlord if you're owed more than the deposit.
The bottom line
Ask in writing with an itemised breakdown, test every deduction against the four questions, accept what's fair, and use the free adjudication for the rest.
The system is genuinely weighted in your favour, because the landlord has to prove each item and most claims are poorly evidenced. What loses cases is not having your own photographs.
And whatever the outcome, put it on the record. How a landlord handles a deposit is the thing the next tenant most needs to know and can least easily find out.
This guide covers England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own schemes and time limits. General information rather than legal advice: take advice before bringing a court claim. Sources: GOV.UK, deposit disputes and problems, TDS, deposits disputes and damages.