What do I do if my tenant leaves the property in a mess?

A landlord called us last month, keys in hand, standing in a hallway full of bin bags, a broken door, and a smell that hit before we closed the door. His first question wasn't "how do I clean this." It was "can I get my money back." Most landlords in that moment can't answer yes, and it's decided months earlier, not that day.

You can only deduct for damage, not fair wear and tear, and only if you can prove it. No evidence from move-in day, no claim. It's your word against theirs, and their word usually wins.

The deposit only protects what you can prove

A worn carpet after three years is fair wear and tear. You can't claim for that. A carpet burned by a cigarette, stained beyond cleaning, or ripped up entirely is damage. You can claim for that, but only with proof. A proper check-in inventory with dated photos, compared directly against the same rooms at check-out, is the only thing that settles it. Without that, an adjudicator has nothing to weigh your claim against, and the benefit of the doubt goes against the person asking for money. That's you.

What to actually do, in order

Photograph and video everything before you touch a single thing. Every room, every surface, timestamped. Get itemised quotes for cleaning, repairs, and removal, never one lump sum, deposit schemes want the cost of each specific item, not a round number. Match every claim directly against your check-in inventory. Then take it to the deposit scheme, not the tenant. Let the evidence argue for you, not your frustration.

Beyond a normal deposit

A standard cash deposit caps out at five weeks' rent, whatever the damage actually costs. We offer our landlords flatfair, a deposit alternative giving up to ten weeks of cover for damages and arrears, double the protection of a normal deposit, with its own inspection built in at check-in. On a mess like the one above, that's the difference between a cleaning bill you can actually recover and one you're left covering yourself.

The bottom line

A mess is a cleaning bill. Proof is what turns that bill into money back in your account, not the tenant's deposit disappearing into thin air. We run a full photographed inventory on every property we manage, at check-in and check-out, and if a property does need work after a bad tenancy, our own refurbishment team handles it directly, no gap between the damage and getting it let again.

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