Getting a full deposit back is mostly a scheduling problem. Nearly everything that goes wrong at the end of a tenancy goes wrong because it was left to the last day, when the van is outside and the keys are due.
Here is the same work, spread over four weeks.
Four weeks out
Read your tenancy agreement. Check the notice you have to give and how it must be delivered. Since 1 May 2026 most private tenancies in England are periodic assured tenancies, so the fixed term you may remember signing has gone — but your notice obligation still exists. Get it right in writing.
Give notice in writing, even if you have already said it verbally. Email, with the date you intend to leave stated plainly. Keep the sent copy.
Find your move-in evidence. Photographs, the inventory, your comments on it, meter readings, the prescribed information. Do this now rather than on the last day — if something is missing you still have time to look.
Re-read the check-in inventory. It tells you exactly what standard you are being measured against, room by room. Anything it recorded as already marked, worn or dirty is not yours to fix.
Three weeks out
Walk the property with the inventory open. Note every difference between what it says and what is there. Sort each one into: I caused this, this is fair wear and tear, this was already recorded.
Deal with what is genuinely yours. A small repair you do properly is almost always cheaper than the deduction. Filling and touching up a picture hook is a ten-minute job; a landlord's decorator charging for a wall is not.
Do not start repainting whole rooms. Unauthorised decorating is itself a deduction, and mismatched paint looks worse than the mark you covered. If in doubt, ask in writing.
Chase outstanding repairs. Anything you reported that was never fixed — put it in writing again now, referring to the original date. A defect the landlord failed to repair does not become your deduction, but that is much easier to argue when the reporting history is documented.
Two weeks out: arrange the end-of-tenancy check-out inspection
Arrange the check-out inspection, and ask to be present. This is the formal end-of-tenancy inspection where the check-out report is compared with the check-in inventory. Being there matters: you can point out what was already recorded and you will know what was said on the day rather than reading about it later.
Ask, in writing, for the inspection report to be sent to you afterwards.
Sort the cleaning plan. You need the property back to its check-in standard, not better. Remember that a term requiring you to pay for professional cleaning is unenforceable in England — the obligation is the standard, not the receipt. See can my landlord charge me for cleaning.
Book anything that needs booking — carpet cleaning, a van, a locksmith if you lost a key.
One week out
Start emptying. Photographs of an occupied property prove very little, so the goal is to be empty before you shoot.
Clear everything, everywhere. The loft, the shed, the garden, the bin store, under the stairs, the back of the airing cupboard. Items left behind are a removal cost and a legitimate deduction.
Clean as rooms empty, rather than waiting for the whole property.
Return the garden to how you found it, if there is one. Mown if it was mown; you are not required to improve it.
The last day
This is the part that protects the money. Do it after the final box has left and before you hand over the keys.
Photograph every room wide, from the doorway — the same positions as your move-in shots, so the two sets compare directly.
Photograph the details: inside the oven, the fridge, the washing machine drawer, the extractor, the bathroom fittings, the grout and sealant.
Photograph anything you are worried about, with a wide shot and a close-up, so it has a location. The method is in how to take photos that hold up.
Take the meter readings with the serial numbers legible, and send them to the supplier the same day. See how to take meter readings.
Photograph the keys you are returning, and count them.
Return the keys and get a receipt, or an email confirming the date and time. The tenancy does not end tidily without this.
If you'd like a version to tick off room by room on the day, use our move-out checklist.
The same evening
Email the whole set to the landlord or agent. One message, the photographs, the meter readings, the date, and a line: "This is the condition the property was left in on [date]."
That email does two things. It creates a dated record neither side can revise later. And it tells a landlord considering a speculative deduction that you have a file — which quietly settles a great many claims before they are made.
Send your forwarding address, so there is no excuse about not being able to reach you.
For what happens to the money after you leave, see how long a landlord has to return your deposit.
After
Request the deposit's return in writing, with a reasonable deadline.
Watch the 90 days. Schemes generally expect a formal dispute to be raised within 90 days of the tenancy ending. Missing it can cost you the free adjudication entirely.
If deductions are proposed, sort them line by line into accept, accept-but-dispute-the-amount, and dispute. A reply that concedes the fair items and challenges the rest with reasons works far better than a blanket refusal. Deposit deductions: what's legal and what isn't covers the grounds.
If it stalls, you do not need the landlord's cooperation to start a dispute. What to do if your landlord won't return your deposit is the escalation ladder.
The one-line version
Photograph the empty property on the day you leave, from the same positions you used on the day you arrived, and email the set that evening.
Everything else on this list is useful. That one thing is what the argument turns on.
Moving somewhere new? Start the next tenancy with our move-in checklist.
Put it in writing
If you disagree with a deduction, or the deposit has not come back, reply in writing, one charge at a time. Our free deposit letter can help: choose England and Wales, list each charge you dispute and why, and it writes a polite, dated letter asking for the money or for the check-in inventory and receipts, and saying you will use your scheme's free dispute service if you cannot agree. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Where RentSeal fits
RentSeal keeps both ends of that comparison in one place for one tenancy, so the move-out set sits next to the move-in set and the whole thing exports as a single pack. You can see how it works first.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. For your own situation, speak to Citizens Advice, Shelter or a housing solicitor.