Your landlord has sent a deductions list. Some of it is fair and some of it is not, you have pushed back, and they have not budged.
The Deposit Protection Service (DPS), the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) and mydeposits each run a free Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service that can settle the disagreement without going to court. An independent adjudicator reviews both sides' evidence and makes a binding decision.
How does deposit dispute resolution work in England and Wales?
If you rent on an assured tenancy in England, or an occupation contract in Wales, your landlord must protect your deposit in one of three government-approved schemes (mydeposits, the DPS or the TDS) within 30 days of receiving it, and give you the prescribed information within the same 30 days. If they do not, see our guide on deposit protection violations and compensation.
ADR is voluntary. The law stops schemes making it compulsory, so you and your landlord must both agree to use it. In the insured schemes, a landlord who doesn't answer the scheme's notice in time is usually treated as agreeing. If either side refuses, the money stays protected while you sort it out, but whoever refused must start court proceedings within the scheme's deadline (three months at TDS, six at the DPS and mydeposits), or the scheme can release the disputed amount to the other side. Once you both agree, the adjudicator's decision is final and binding.
In a custodial scheme, the scheme holds your money. In an insurance-backed scheme, the landlord holds it and pays the scheme a premium.
The timelines differ. Custodial schemes have no fixed filing deadline. Insurance-backed schemes have a hard one, and its start date differs by scheme, so see yours below. Miss it and the scheme can close the deposit, and ADR is no longer available.
What evidence do you need for a deposit dispute?
Adjudicators decide on the documents alone and usually won't ask for anything you leave out, so pull together:
- The check-in inventory, signed by you and dated.
- The check-out report, ideally signed by both of you.
- Dated photographs or video from both move-in and move-out.
- All written correspondence about the deductions (emails, texts, letters).
Without a signed check-in record, it is much harder for your landlord to prove damage happened during your tenancy, though adjudicators can still rely on dated photos and messages.
Check the scheme's file-type and size limits before you upload, and label each file clearly.
How to raise a deposit dispute with the DPS
Log in at depositprotection.com using your Deposit ID. If you do not have it, ask your landlord or contact the DPS.
Before you can start a dispute, you must have formally requested the return of your deposit. The DPS calls this a 'repayment request'.
In the custodial scheme your landlord then has 14 calendar days to respond. If they do not, you can use the DPS statutory declaration process, which needs a sworn declaration. If your landlord still says nothing 14 days later, the DPS pays you within 10 days.
In the insured scheme, if your landlord has not returned the deposit within 10 days of your request you can ask the DPS to step in, and DPS Insured needs your dispute within 90 days of the tenancy ending.
When your landlord proposes deductions, log into your DPS account, reject the ones you do not accept, confirm you want to use the dispute service, set out the amount you agree with and the amount you dispute, and upload your evidence.
You and your landlord then both have 14 calendar days to submit evidence at the same time, so do not wait for your landlord. The adjudicator usually decides within 15 working days of receiving the case.
In the insured scheme, once a dispute is raised the landlord must transfer the disputed amount to the DPS, which holds it and pays out according to the decision.
How to raise a deposit dispute with the TDS
TDS runs TDS Custodial and TDS Insured. Log in at tenancydepositscheme.com with the deposit ID from your protection certificate or your agent's confirmation email.
With TDS Custodial, submit a repayment request through the portal, and the other party has up to 30 working days to respond. With TDS Insured, ask your landlord or agent for the deposit back in writing. If it has not come back within 10 days you can go to TDS, and you must do so within three months of the tenancy ending.
Raise a dispute through the portal, specifying the amount in dispute and uploading your evidence. TDS then gives your landlord or agent a short window to respond, and you a chance to reply.
With TDS Insured, your landlord or agent must send the disputed amount to TDS when they respond. If they do not, TDS still adjudicates, pays you any award, and recovers the money from them.
An adjudicator then normally decides within a few weeks.
How to raise a deposit dispute with mydeposits
Log into your tenant account at mydeposits.co.uk. Request your deposit back through the portal (custodial) or from your landlord in writing (insured). Your landlord has 14 days to respond to a custodial release request, and for an insured deposit you can go to mydeposits if it has not come back within 10 days. If you cannot agree, raise a dispute through your online account, stating the amount in dispute and uploading your evidence.
For mydeposits insurance-backed cases, you have 90 days from the day you moved out.
Once the case reaches an adjudicator, mydeposits aims to decide within 15 working days for an insured deposit and 28 calendar days for a custodial one.
How do deposit adjudicators decide a dispute?
The adjudicator reads both submissions and decides which version of events the documents make more likely. They allow for fair wear and tear and for betterment, meaning the landlord can charge for what an old item was worth, not for a brand-new replacement. Our guides on winning a deposit dispute and what counts as a fair deduction go through the evidence in detail.
The decision is binding on both parties and there is no appeal within the scheme. You can complain about a clear error of fact or law, but that is not a rehearing. Either side can still go to court, but that costs money and may not undo the decision, so get advice first.
When can you take a deposit dispute to the County Court?
If the landlord never protected your deposit, one of you will not agree to ADR, or an insured scheme's deadline has passed, your route is the County Court, not a tribunal.
Where the deposit was never protected, was protected late, or you did not get the prescribed information within 30 days, you can claim the statutory penalty. In England that is under section 214 of the Housing Act 2004. For Welsh occupation contracts it is under Schedule 5 to the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. Either way the court must award one to three times the deposit, and it can also order the deposit itself returned.
Where the deposit was protected on time and you got the prescribed information within 30 days, there is no protection claim. You are suing for return of the money as an ordinary contract debt, and a claim of £10,000 or less normally goes through the court's small claims process.
Before you go to court, send a letter before action.
Remedy can review your tenancy before you file and tell you what you can claim.
