When a tenant challenges a deposit deduction, the case goes to the free adjudication service run by the deposit scheme — TDS, DPS or mydeposits. What happens next surprises many landlords: nobody visits the property, nobody phones anyone, and nobody asks follow-up questions. The adjudicator reads the file and decides.
That single fact should shape everything about how you document a tenancy. You are not preparing to make your case in person. You are preparing a file that must win on its own.
The Starting Position
Two principles frame every adjudication:
- The deposit is the tenant's money. The landlord must prove a right to keep some of it — the tenant doesn't have to prove a right to get it back.
- Decisions are made only on the evidence submitted. Anything not in the file may as well not exist. Adjudicators don't request missing documents; they decide without them.
The Evidence Bundle That Wins
Adjudicators consistently describe the same ideal file:
- A check-in inventory and schedule of condition — detailed, room by room, photographed, and signed or deemed accepted by the tenant. This establishes the baseline. Without it, most claims fail at the first step.
- A checkout report — the same items, described to the same standard, recording the property exactly as returned. The closer its structure mirrors the inventory, the easier the comparison is to follow.
- Date-stamped photographs at both ends — wide shots to locate the item, close-ups to show the detail, taken from matching angles so the adjudicator can put them side by side.
- The tenancy agreement — with clear clauses on cleaning standards, gardens, and any specific obligations you're relying on.
- Quotes, invoices or receipts for the amounts claimed — a deduction needs a figure, and the figure needs a source.
- A paper trail during the tenancy — mid-term inspection reports and correspondence showing issues were raised and when. A problem first mentioned at checkout, with no history behind it, is much easier for a tenant to contest.
Think of it from the adjudicator's desk: two documents, side by side, describing the same items at two points in time — with photographs to prove both. That's the whole game.
The Mistakes That Lose Winnable Claims
- No check-in inventory — or one so thin it can't anchor a comparison.
- Reports produced by the claiming party. A landlord's own record isn't worthless, but an independent clerk's report carries visibly more weight.
- Undated or unattributable photos. If it isn't clear when a photo was taken, it proves very little.
- Claiming new-for-old. Asking for a brand-new carpet because a five-year-old one was stained reads as overreach and invites the adjudicator to cut the award.
- Charging for fair wear and tear. Flattened pile and faded paint after a long tenancy aren't damage — claiming them undermines the credible parts of your claim.
- Missing the cleanliness baseline. You can only hold a tenant to a "professionally cleaned" standard if the check-in record states it.
Already at Checkout Without an Inventory?
All is not lost. An independent standalone checkout report still gives you a professional record of how the property was returned — useful for negotiating directly with the tenant, essential for the next tenancy's baseline, and better than nothing if a dispute proceeds. But it can't manufacture a comparison that was never recorded, which is why the inventory at the next check-in should be the first thing you fix.
The Bottom Line
Deposit disputes aren't won by being right — they're won by being able to prove it on paper to someone who will never see the property. Build the file from day one of the tenancy: independent inventory in, inspections logged during, independent checkout out. Do that, and adjudication stops being a gamble.