Lesson 9
Responding to a Deposit Dispute
Answer each proposed deduction by obligation, evidence and amount, without paying for the landlord’s upgrade.
A deduction is a claim, not a decision
The email says: ‘We’ll be keeping £640 of your deposit.’ That’s a claim, not a decision. The deposit is still your money unless a deduction is agreed or shown to be justified, and it’s the landlord who has to justify it.
Claims usually come as cleaning, damage, missing items or rent. Take each one separately and ask four things: what obligation you had, what is said to have happened, what the evidence shows and how the amount was worked out. A precise price or a firm tone isn’t evidence.
Your deposit may sit with a custodial scheme or under insured protection. Use your actual scheme’s return process rather than assuming the scheme already holds the money.