The short version
- Record a check-in inventory at the start of the tenancy. Without one, a check-out report proves nothing.
- Inspect once the property is empty and the tenant has finished cleaning, not while boxes are still in the hallway.
- Work room by room in the same order as check-in, so every item has a matching pair.
- Date everything and keep the raw footage, not just the written report.
- Price deductions with quotes and apportion for age; claims for betterment are the most common reason a deduction is reduced.
- Send the report to the tenant promptly with the deductions itemised and the evidence attached.
Why check-out evidence fails
Adjudicators are not deciding whether a property is damaged. They are deciding whether the landlord has shown that a specific cost was caused by the tenant, beyond fair wear and tear, and priced fairly. Deductions typically fail for four reasons: there is no check-in record to compare against, the evidence is undated, the claim is for replacement of an item that was already old, or the amount is a round number with no quote behind it.
All four are fixable at no cost, and all four are fixed before the tenancy ends rather than after it.
The two categories that dominate are predictable. In The Deposit Protection Service's 2025 figures, cleaning was cited in 29.38% of claims — the fifth consecutive year it topped the list — with damage second at 18.42% and rent arrears third at 16.45%. Cleaning is also the category most often reduced at adjudication, because "not as clean as I would like" is not a standard and a check-in record is. Photograph the oven, the extractor filter and the fridge seals at check-in and the argument is over before it starts.
Source: The Deposit Protection Service, June 2026
The inspection, room by room
Entrance and circulation
- Front door, locks, keys and fobs returned
- Hall flooring, skirting, stair treads and banister
- Wall scuffs at handle and furniture height
- Light fittings, switches, smoke alarm test
Kitchen
- Oven, hob, extractor filter, microwave — inside
- Fridge and freezer, defrosted and clean
- Under the sink for leaks and damage
- Worktop burns and cuts, cupboard doors and hinges
Bathrooms
- Mould and sealant condition, extractor working
- Limescale, grout, shower screen
- Toilet seat, taps, waste fittings
- Signs of leaks in the ceiling below
Living areas and bedrooms
- Carpets: stains, burns, pet damage, flattening
- Walls: fixings removed, holes filled, unauthorised paint
- Windows, handles, blinds, curtains, restrictors
- Furniture supplied, matched to the inventory
Outside and shared
- Garden, lawn, borders, fences and gates
- Rubbish and belongings left behind
- Garage, shed, loft, bike store, parking bay
- Communal areas if the tenancy covers them
Services and paperwork
- Meter readings, photographed legibly
- Boiler and heating running
- Appliance manuals, spare keys, alarm codes
- Forwarding address and final bills
Fair wear and tear, and apportionment
Wear is not damage, and an adjudicator will reduce a deduction that ignores the difference. The factors that decide it are how long the tenant lived there, how many people lived there, and the age and expected life of the item when the tenancy started. Carpet that was eight years old at check-in has little remaining life to claim for, however tired it looks now.
Deductions therefore work best as a share of a cost rather than the whole of it: the quote, minus the proportion of the item's life already used up. Showing that arithmetic in the report is persuasive precisely because it demonstrates you are not trying to renew the property at the tenant's expense.
What to send, and when
- The check-out report, itemised. Each deduction: what, which room, the evidence, the quote, the apportionment, the amount.
- The check-in comparison for the same item, so the tenant sees the basis rather than a conclusion.
- Promptly. Deposit schemes expect deductions to be raised without undue delay, and a tenant who hears nothing for weeks is a tenant who disputes.
- In a format that can be opened. A PDF beats a folder of video files, and beats a phone gallery link that expires.
Doing it with CompareAI Inspect
- Generate the room list from the property type and reuse it for every tenancy at that address.
- Check-in is Before, check-out is After, matched by room, so each pair is compared rather than described.
- The AI drafts the findings — location and severity per item — which is the part of the report that usually takes the longest to write.
- Every clip and every report is fingerprinted with SHA-256 and the report hash is recorded server-side, so a document you send can be verified at compareai.work/verify without disclosing the footage.
- Report history per property, so last tenancy's check-out is still there when this one ends.
For a portfolio, the 12-month retention on Pro is the relevant one: a tenancy plus a dispute window comfortably exceeds the free plan's 30 days. Exported PDFs do not expire.
Not legal advice. Deposit protection schemes, notice periods and permitted deductions differ by country and by state, and adjudication standards differ between schemes. This is a practical checklist, not a statement of your obligations — check your scheme's current guidance and your local tenancy law.
Questions people ask
Do I need the tenant present at the inspection?
It is not usually required, but it is a good idea: disagreements raised in the room are cheaper to resolve than disagreements raised through a scheme. If the tenant cannot attend, send the report and the footage promptly and invite comment rather than presenting a conclusion.
What evidence do deposit schemes actually want?
A dated check-in record, a dated check-out record of the same items, and a costing. Adjudicators are working from documents rather than visits, so the quality of the comparison is what decides it — matched rooms, clear dates, and a quote that supports the number.
Can I charge for replacing a whole carpet?
Rarely in full. If the damage is localised and the carpet was part-worn, the reasonable claim is a repair, or a share of replacement reflecting the life already used. Claims for a new item to replace an old one are the classic reason a deduction gets cut at adjudication.
How long should I keep check-in and check-out records?
Until the deposit is returned and any dispute period has passed, and longer if there is any chance of a claim about the property's condition. Video is bulky, so the practical approach is to keep footage through the tenancy and archive the exported reports indefinitely — they carry the fingerprints that tie them to the original clips.
Does an AI-generated report carry weight in a dispute?
The evidence is the dated footage; the AI writes up what it sees so you are not typing findings at ten at night. Review it before you send it — an inaccurate finding is worse than no finding, and the app's analysis is explicitly an aid to your judgement rather than a professional inventory service.
What if there was never a check-in inventory?
Then a deduction is hard to sustain, and you should assume most of it will not survive a challenge. Record a full inventory at the start of the next tenancy, and in the meantime rely on anything contemporaneous you do have — a letting listing, a contractor's invoice, correspondence about the condition.