Last updated: January 2026
Whenever you pay a deposit at the start of your tenancy, you’re entitled to get it back when the tenancy ends. Your landlord or letting agent will only have the right to deduct money in certain circumstances, such as if you’ve damaged the property or you have unpaid rent when your contract ends. If you’ve been the perfect tenant but you’re still worried about the whole process, follow our top tips to help you leave the property exactly as you found it.
To make sure you get your full deposit amount back, there are a few things you should do before you officially check out of the property.
This one is crucial to prove you haven’t lost or damaged any furnishings or items that belong to the property. When you move in, the landlord or letting agent should supply you with an inventory checklist. It’s important that you fill this in correctly so that if there are any damaged or missing items, you won’t be charged for them after you move out, as this happened before you took on the contract.
Throughout your time at the property, you need to report any damages and repairs, even if they weren’t caused by you. If you contact your landlord or letting agent by phone regarding this, make sure to send them an email right after so you’ve got written proof you reported it. Depending on the severity of the damage, the landlord may cover this themselves or charge you for it on top of your rent. If they plan to take this out of your deposit, you need to be informed.
If you’ve reported a repair before you move out and it doesn’t get sorted, make sure you’ve got written proof of the report. This way, if the landlord claims not to have known about the repair and tries to claim the cost out of your deposit, you can fight back.
For the best chance of getting your deposit back, the property should be sparkling by the time you leave it! Ensure you leave the property in the same condition you found it. Preferably, after a big clean, you should put all furniture back where it was before you moved in.
Usually, the landlord or letting agent will inspect the property after you’ve left. For this reason, we recommend that you take pictures of the house once you’ve cleaned it and emptied it of your belongings. This way, if it takes the landlord a few weeks to get around to inspecting it, you can prove that any dirt or dust wasn’t left by you and that you didn’t leave anything behind.
Firstly, you’ll need to know who your landlord or letting agent has chosen to protect your deposit. All deposits must be protected by a Government-backed tenancy deposit protection scheme if your contract is an assured shorthold tenancy. The protection schemes are:
Once you pay the deposit to your landlord or letting agent, they must enter it into a protection scheme within 30 days of receiving it.
In some cases, you can ask the deposit protection scheme directly for your deposit to be returned, but in other cases, you need to ask your landlord. It all depends on the type of scheme the landlord uses – an insured scheme or a custodial scheme. While a custodial scheme is free and involves the scheme holding your deposit, an insured scheme means your landlord holds the deposit, and it comes with an insurance fee.
Once you’ve asked the landlord or the protection scheme for your deposit back, and both parties have agreed on the amount that’ll be returned to you, the landlord has 10 days to refund you the amount. If, after 10 days, you’ve still not received your deposit, you can raise a dispute, but we always advise you to first contact your landlord and ask about the holdup. There could be a totally normal reason which could be resolved quickly once you contact them.
Getting your deposit back at the end of tenancy should be pretty straightforward if you’ve been an ideal tenant, but sorting out bills and splitting them between you and your mates in your next student house can feel like a massive chore.
That’s why we step in with our bill-splitting service. You can build your own package by choosing which utilities you want included, and then let us do all the hard work! We’ll contact suppliers for you and set up your bills, and all your housemates will get their own logins to the account, so you won’t need a chief bill payer. This means you’ll spend less time having awkward conversations over missed payments and more time experiencing the best parts of life as a student.
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