What Evidence Do You Need to Win a Tenancy Deposit Dispute?
Deposit disputes are decided on documents, not on who sounds more reasonable. Here is exactly what adjudicators, courts and deposit schemes ask for, wherever you rent.
Whether the deposit is held by a government scheme, an escrow account or the landlord directly, the process at the end of a tenancy is the same everywhere: the landlord claims deductions, the tenant disagrees, and a neutral party looks at the evidence. The side that can show what happened usually wins. This post lists what "show" means.
The four documents that decide most cases
- A check-in inventory and condition report, dated at the start of the tenancy and ideally acknowledged by the tenant. It should describe every room, fixture and appliance and its condition, not just list them.
- Dated photographs — at check-in, at each inspection during the tenancy, and at check-out. Same rooms, same angles, so before and after can be compared side by side.
- The check-out report, completed against the check-in one, with the tenant present where possible.
- Quotes or invoices for every deduction claimed. A deduction without a cost behind it is an estimate, and estimates lose.
Are photos enough on their own?
Photos without a written inventory are weak, because a photo shows condition but not what was agreed. An inventory without photos is stronger than photos alone, and the two together are what adjudicators actually want. Video walkthroughs help for large properties but are hard to compare later; take stills as well.
Does the inventory have to be signed?
Signed is best. Failing that, evidence that it was sent to the tenant at the start and not disputed — an email with a timestamp, a portal upload the tenant could see — carries most of the same weight. What does not work is an inventory that surfaces for the first time at the end of the tenancy.
What about wear and tear?
Every jurisdiction allows for reasonable wear and tear, and every dispute turns on where "reasonable" ends. The evidence that settles it is the age and condition of the item at check-in (a carpet that was new versus one that was already worn) and the length of the tenancy. Keep receipts for anything you bought for the property; they establish age.
Correspondence during the tenancy
The tenant reported a leak in March; you replied and sent a contractor. If the check-out shows water damage, that thread is the difference between "tenant neglect" and "landlord dealt with it". File every message about the condition of the property with the tenancy, not in a personal inbox.
How to keep all of this without a filing project
Give each tenancy a single record that holds the inventory, the photos (with upload dates), the inspection log and the correspondence — a case, in Herarx terms. Photos taken on a phone upload straight into it; emails file into it from the mailbox; the check-out statement is generated from the deductions table with the invoices attached. When the dispute comes, you export the record rather than assembling one. We have written more about keeping tenancy records that hold up.
The short version
- Inventory + photos at check-in, acknowledged by the tenant.
- Dated photos at every inspection.
- Check-out report against the check-in.
- A cost behind every deduction.
- Everything in one place, with dates you did not type yourself.
