Getting Your Tenancy Deposit Back After a London Move

For most London renters the deposit is the biggest sum of money tied up in a move. It is usually several weeks' rent, and it comes back only after the check-out, a negotiation, and sometimes a formal dispute. Knowing the rules, and the dates, decides how much of it you see and how soon.

This guide takes you from the last week of your tenancy to the day the money lands in your account. It sets out what the law and the three government-approved schemes say a landlord can and cannot keep, how each scheme's dispute route works, and how the removal itself can cause deductions you never expected. For the wider move-out process, from giving notice to meters and keys, read moving out of a rented home in London first.

This is general information for private renters in England, written from the GOV.UK pages and the schemes' own guidance listed at the end. It is not legal advice. If your situation is unusual, contact your scheme or Shelter England before you act.

GOV.UK says your landlord must put your deposit in a government-approved tenancy deposit scheme if you rent your home on an assured periodic tenancy. Assured periodic tenancies replaced assured shorthold tenancies on 1 May 2026, when the Renters' Rights Act changes came into force in England, so this covers most private renters in London. The government's overview for tenants explains the wider tenancy changes, and GOV.UK's deposit protection pages already use the new tenancy type.

A few situations work differently:

• Lodgers and other non-assured lets. GOV.UK says that if you do not rent on an assured periodic tenancy, the landlord can take a valuable item, such as a car or a watch, as a deposit instead of money, and it will not be protected by a scheme
• Holding deposits. Money paid to hold a property before the agreement is signed does not have to be protected. Once you become a tenant, it becomes a deposit and must be protected
• Someone else paid. If a parent or a rent deposit scheme paid your deposit, the landlord must still protect it
• Scotland and Northern Ireland. They have their own schemes. The three schemes in this guide cover England and Wales, and the deposit cap below applies in England

Most deposit problems at the end of a tenancy trace back to the start. GOV.UK sets two duties, both with a 30-day clock that starts when the landlord receives your money.

Protect the deposit within 30 days

The landlord or letting agent must put the deposit in DPS, mydeposits or TDS within 30 days. GOV.UK's guidance for landlords explains that every scheme offers two ways of doing it, and this matters later because each one handles your refund differently:

Give you the scheme information within 30 days

In the same 30 days, GOV.UK says the landlord must tell you:

• The address of the rented property and how much deposit you paid
• How the deposit is protected, and the name and contact details of the scheme and its dispute resolution service
• Their own name and contact details, or the letting agency's
• The name and contact details of anyone else who paid the deposit
• Why they would keep some or all of the deposit
• How to apply to get the deposit back
• What to do if you cannot reach the landlord at the end of the tenancy
• What to do if there is a dispute over the deposit

Find this paperwork before you give notice. It tells you which scheme to log in to, whether the deposit is custodial or insured, and what the landlord said up front they might deduct. If you cannot find it, Shelter England lists the schemes' phone numbers and says you need a postcode, surname, tenancy start date and deposit amount to search for your deposit on each scheme's site.

Section 26 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025, in force from 1 May 2026 for specified purposes, extends these protection rules from assured shorthold tenancies to assured tenancies. It also ties them to eviction: a court can make a possession order only if the deposit is held in an authorised scheme and the landlord has given you the required information. That does not apply where possession is sought on the anti-social behaviour grounds (7A and 14), where the deposit has been returned in full or with agreed deductions, or where a county court claim about it has been decided, withdrawn or settled.

The Tenant Fees Act guidance for tenants, updated by the government on 7 July 2026, limits a tenancy deposit in England by the annual rent:

• Annual rent below £50,000: up to 5 weeks' rent
• Annual rent between £50,000 and £100,000: up to 6 weeks' rent
• Holding deposit: up to 1 week's rent

London rents put more tenancies near the £50,000 line than anywhere else in the country. The table shows what the cap means for some example rents. A week's rent here is the annual rent divided by 52, which is our arithmetic, so ask your agent how they worked out yours.

Notice the jump at the threshold. A flat at £4,000 a month (£48,000 a year) can carry a deposit of up to £4,615.38. At £4,200 a month the annual rent passes £50,000, the cap moves to 6 weeks, and the highest deposit becomes £5,815.38. GOV.UK's guidance gives caps for rents up to £100,000 a year.

If you were charged more than the cap, or a fee that is not on the allowed list, GOV.UK calls it a prohibited payment. You can ask for it back, report it to your local council, or apply to the First-tier Tribunal, which can order the landlord to repay it. The guidance also lists what a landlord is allowed to charge at the end, which includes the cost of replacing a lost key or security device, with written evidence that the cost is reasonable. A check-out fee is not on that list.

The legal deadlines are few, but the practical sequence is the same for every tenancy. This is how it usually runs when everything goes smoothly.

A dated example

Dates make the timescales real. Below, a tenancy ends on Fri, 29 Jan 2027. The tenant and landlord spend two weeks trying to agree the deductions and then give up, and the deposit is with the Deposit Protection Service. Each later date is worked out from DPS's published estimate, which counts the day a claim enters dispute as day 1. The two-week negotiation is our example, not a rule.

In this example, the tenant moved out in late January and gets the decision around Sat, 27 Mar 2027, with the money a few business days later. DPS stresses that its timings are estimates and can run longer if there is a query about the evidence. It also describes dispute resolution as a last resort: a figure you agree directly with your landlord is paid far sooner. With a custodial DPS deposit, DPS says it pays any money due within 7 working days once you and your landlord have confirmed how the deposit should be repaid.

If your deposit is with mydeposits, note the deadline in the last row. mydeposits says you must request a resolution within three months of the date you moved out or the deposit becoming unprotected, whichever is sooner. Do not let negotiation run past that date.

The starting point surprises many tenants. DPS puts it plainly: the deposit belongs to the tenant, and the landlord has to prove they are entitled to part of it, not the other way round. Adjudicators decide on the evidence, "on a balance of probabilities".

DPS's guidance on reasonable claims groups deductions into five categories: rent arrears; cleaning and removal of items or rubbish left behind; repairs and redecoration; replacement of missing or damaged goods; and garden maintenance. Within those, two principles limit what a landlord can take.

Fair wear and tear

Wear and tear is deterioration from normal use and age. Damage is harm caused by negligence, misuse or accident. The schemes and Shelter give examples on each side of the line. This table brings them together; each row is from the source named.

DPS lists the factors an adjudicator weighs: how long the tenancy lasted, how many people lived there and how old they were, and the lifespan, quality and condition of the item at the start. A family of four in a flat for five years will wear the carpets more than one person in a year, and that is expected. mydeposits adds an important exception: fair wear and tear applies to the condition of the property, not its cleanliness. However long you lived there, you are expected to leave it as clean as you found it.

Betterment: no new for old

A landlord cannot use your deposit to upgrade the property. DPS calls this betterment and gives examples: the full cost of a new carpet when the old one was already several years old, a premium brand to replace a modest one, or a full professional clean when the flat was not professionally clean at the start. Shelter's damage guidance works through a stained carpet. If a cleaning company would remove the stain for £50, that is what the landlord should keep, even if they buy a new £250 carpet. If the carpet cannot be cleaned and is five years old, Shelter suggests £125 towards a £250 replacement might be reasonable, and still £125 if the landlord chooses a £500 carpet.

You can dispute the amount even when you accept you caused the damage. Get your own quote for the repair or check the price of a like-for-like replacement, and put it to the landlord.

Cleaning causes more deductions than anything else, according to Shelter. The rule is simple: you only need to clean to the standard the home was in when you moved in, as recorded on the check-in inventory. A tenancy clause requiring a "professional standard" is only fair if the property was professionally cleaned before you moved in. A clause making you pay for professional cleaning is not fair, and your landlord cannot make you do it. If you do hire a cleaner, keep the receipt.

Decorating follows the same logic. Shelter says a landlord cannot keep money just because it is time to redecorate, or for fair wear and tear even if they redecorate. They could keep money if you redecorated or made significant changes without consent, such as painting walls a different colour or changing locks, flooring or appliances, or if your damage means redecoration is needed. If you changed something without consent, Shelter's advice is to put it back as it was, even if you think you improved it.

For gardens, Shelter says it should be left in a similar state to when you moved in, with no rubbish or unwanted furniture left outside. You do not need to improve it.

This is the part most deposit guides leave out. On a London move, many of the marks an inspector finds were made in the last few hours of the tenancy, by the move itself. Heavy furniture goes down narrow stairs, through tight doorways and across floors that have been protected by rugs for years. Each risk has a simple fix.

Floors

Dragging a sofa, a wardrobe or a fridge freezer across laminate or wooden floors leaves scratches that look like negligence on a check-out report, not wear. Furniture should be lifted and carried, not slid. Look under rugs and beds before moving day too: dents and marks hidden for years will be on show once the room is empty, and it is better to know before the inspector does.

On every move, our quotation states: "The crew protects floors, doorways and common areas along the carrying route as part of the standard service. Any further protection a property needs, such as for delicate or newly laid surfaces, must be agreed in writing before the move. This does not exclude liability that cannot lawfully be excluded." Tell us when you ask for a quote if your rented flat has delicate or newly laid floors, so the extra protection can be agreed in advance.

Walls, door frames and stairs

Scuffs on a stairwell wall from a single move are usually small, but a gouge in a door frame from a bed base or a dented banister is damage. Ask for large items to be taken apart where they will not fit cleanly. A bed, wardrobe or table that comes apart rarely touches a wall. If you are worried about one tight corner, mention it when you book. Our guide to a sofa that will not fit covers the awkward cases.

If your building has shared hallways, a lift or a communal entrance, check whether the managing agent has moving rules.

Wall fixings and TV brackets

Shelter lists holes in walls as chargeable damage. If you put up shelves, pictures or a TV bracket, check your tenancy agreement and any written consent you were given about making good. Take items down early enough to deal with the holes before the check-out, not on the morning of the inspection.

The landlord's furniture

In a furnished flat, Shelter warns not to remove the landlord's furniture or appliances without written consent, even if they are broken or you never used them. On moving day, walk the crew round and point out every item that stays. A landlord's chest of drawers loaded by mistake is a missing item on the inventory.

Rubbish and unwanted items

DPS lists removing items or rubbish left by the tenant as one of the main deduction categories, and Shelter says to remove any rubbish that does not fit in your wheelie bins. Plan this before the van comes. We move your belongings, but we do not take rubbish or unwanted items away and we do not clean, so book your council's bulky waste collection, donate or sell what you can, and leave time to clean the empty rooms.

Adjudicators can only decide on the evidence they receive. mydeposits says cases are often lost simply on the quality of evidence, and that a video must be clear and digitally dated. DPS says a report that is not independent, not signed and not backed by photographs carries little weight. Your own record from move-out day is your answer to the check-out report.

Do it after the van has gone and the cleaning is finished, when the rooms are empty and nothing hides the floor.

• One continuous video per room. Walk in from the door, film each wall, the floor, the ceiling and the windows, and say the room's name out loud
• Close-ups of anything on the check-in inventory that was already marked, worn or broken when you arrived, so the old damage is not mistaken for new
• Floors where furniture stood. Under the bed, the sofa, the wardrobe and the fridge, after the item is gone
• Kitchen inside and out. Inside the oven, fridge, freezer and cupboards, the hob and the extractor filter
• Bathroom. Sealant, grout, the bath or shower, the toilet and the extractor fan
• Door frames, stair walls and banisters along the route the furniture took
• Walls where fixings were, showing the holes were filled or never there
• Every meter reading, with the date
• Keys and fobs laid out together before you hand them back, matching the count on the check-in list
• Outside space, if you had a garden, balcony or bin store

Keep the files with their original dates. Do not edit or crop them, and back them up somewhere other than your phone. Save your receipts too: cleaning, carpet cleaning, replacement items and any repairs you paid for.

All three schemes are approved by the government, and the dispute service is free with each. GOV.UK says you do not have to use it, but if you do, both you and the landlord must agree to it, you will both be asked for evidence, and the decision is final. DPS adds that all schemes follow the same government framework and legal principles, so moving to another scheme would not change the outcome. Here is how each route runs, from each scheme's own guidance.

Deposit Protection Service (DPS)

• When your landlord claims deductions, DPS asks if you agree. If you do, DPS pays as requested within two business days
• If you disagree and cannot settle a figure, DPS emails you when it is time to send evidence. You have 14 calendar days from that email to upload it
• With a custodial deposit, DPS already holds the money. With an insured deposit, the landlord first sends the disputed amount to DPS; you notify DPS of the dispute by email
• An adjudicator normally decides within 15 business days of receiving all the evidence. The decision is final and legally binding, but you can complain if you think the adjudicator made a clear error of fact or law
• If the landlord has not responded to your repayment request 14 calendar days after the tenancy ended, or cannot be contacted, DPS has a statutory declaration process to release the deposit
• In a shared tenancy, one "nominated tenant" deals with the repayment for everyone, including how the money is split

mydeposits

• mydeposits says you must request a resolution within three months of moving out or the deposit becoming unprotected, whichever is sooner
• Insured deposits: you formally ask for the deposit back and allow 10 calendar days for a response. If there is a dispute, the landlord has 10 working days from being notified to send the unresolved amount to mydeposits, and 20 working days from the first notice to send evidence. You then get three working days to comment. Any amount the landlord is not claiming should be refunded within 10 calendar days of your request
• Custodial deposits: the release is requested through the online portal. After one full round of negotiation, either side can start the resolution process. Both confirm their final evidence within five working days, and a case assessor tries to settle it within 20 working days
• The adjudicator aims to decide within 28 calendar days. Insured awards are paid within five working days; custodial UK payments are made straight away
• Custodial deposits with mydeposits earn interest from day one, which may be paid to you with the deposit

Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS)

GOV.UK lists TDS alongside the other two, with the same free dispute resolution. Shelter gives its numbers as 0300 037 1000 for the insured scheme and 0300 037 1001 for the custodial scheme. Check TDS's own site for its time limit to raise a dispute and its timescales, because GOV.UK warns there may be a limit and they differ between schemes. If you are not sure, contact TDS soon after you move out rather than waiting.

Side by side

Most deposits are settled without an adjudicator, by a short exchange of emails. How you reply decides whether it stays short.

1. Ask for each deduction to be listed separately, with the amount and the reason
2. Ask for the evidence behind each one: the check-in and check-out entries, photos, and the quote or invoice for the work
3. Answer item by item. Accept what is fair, and say so
4. For each item you dispute, say why in one or two sentences: fair wear and tear given the age of the item and the length of the tenancy, already noted at check-in, or a cheaper repair would do
5. Attach your own dated photos and receipts
6. Propose a figure. A reasonable offer often ends the matter
7. Keep everything in writing, and note the scheme's deadline in your calendar

Keep the tone factual. The landlord, the agent and, if it comes to it, the adjudicator will all read the same emails. DPS notes that even after a dispute starts, if you and the landlord agree a figure before the adjudicator decides, the scheme pays out the agreed sum once both sides confirm.

The landlord has gone quiet

If you cannot contact your landlord at the end of the tenancy, GOV.UK says you can raise a dispute with the scheme that holds the deposit, and the scheme will refund it if the dispute service agrees. With DPS, the statutory declaration route opens 14 calendar days after the tenancy ended if the landlord has not responded. Do not wait for weeks, because the schemes set time limits.

The deposit was never protected

If none of the three schemes has a record of your deposit, GOV.UK says you may be able to apply to your local county court to get it back. Write to your landlord and your letting agent first. GOV.UK notes that a landlord or agent may pay the deposit back after receiving a letter, to avoid legal costs. This is the point to get advice before you act: Shelter England's deposit guidance is a good place to start.

The single most useful thing you can do for your deposit is to move out a day or more before the tenancy ends. It gives you an empty flat to clean, daylight to film it in, and time to fix a mark the move left behind before the inspector sees it. A same-day move-out and check-out leaves no margin at all. If the dates mean a gap before your new home is ready, we can arrange storage through a partner as part of your removal.

When you book, tell us what is in the flat that belongs to the landlord, any tight stairs or delicate floors, and whether your building has moving rules. You will get a written quote within 24 hours, and a 20% booking deposit secures the date. Our house removals in London cover flats and houses across the city, and moving a flat in London explains lifts, stairs and parking. If you have not given notice yet, start with our notice letter template, then plan the removal date from the end date it gives you.

For the rest of the move-out list, including meters, council tax and mail, see moving out of a rented home in London. When you are ready for a price, the London house removals team can suggest the right van and crew for the flat you are leaving.