The vast majority of tenancies end and the full deposit is returned to the tenants. Sometimes however it is necessary to make deductions for things like arrears or damaged or missing items.
Ensure you have solid evidence
We always recommend that you consider a professional check-out report to help document the condition of the property at the end of the tenancy. Paired with an inventory taken at the start of the tenancy, any claims you make will be clearly evidenced and difficult for the tenant to dispute. You can see more here from mydeposits about the rules for claiming deposit deductions, and once your tenancy has come to an end you can see how to make a claim via your OpenRent account here.
Discuss any issues with the tenants directly
Where the tenant does not agree to some deductions that you have made, the first port of call is discussing this with them directly to understand any issues and see if a compromise is suitable. If all parties can agree, the funds can be allocated straight away rather than having to wait for a potentially lengthy dispute process. The tenant can accept or counter each claim via the website, and you can also revise your own claims as necessary for them to accept.
Where agreement cannot be reached
This is of course not always possible, and if an agreement cannot be made, we advise that the tenant requests mediation from mydeposits so they can determine how the funds should be treated. By law the tenant has the right to request independent adjudication on any dispute, and they can do this via the mydeposits website. As soon as they do so we will notify all parties and send the funds to mydeposits for them to determine the outcome of the dispute.
We will keep holding the disputed funds in the meantime, and will pay them to the landlord 90 days after the end of the tenancy if the tenant has not taken their dispute to mydeposits at this point.