Tenant deposit guide
How to get your deposit back in Clapham.
In this part of London a five-week deposit runs to roughly £3,013 in Wandsworth and £2,911 in Lambeth, which is more money than most people have ever handed to a stranger. It is protected by law and disputes are decided on documents, so here is what can be deducted, what cannot, and what to keep. If you would rather hand the cleaning over, our fixed prices start at £169, we cover all ten areas across both boroughs, and every clean carries a 48-hour re-clean guarantee.
Checked September 2026.
Written for Wandsworth and Lambeth tenancies. Fixed prices, itemised receipt, 48-hour re-clean guarantee.
What is at stake
What a five-week deposit is worth here.
The Tenant Fees Act 2019 caps a deposit at five weeks' rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, and six weeks above that. Six weeks needs about £4,167 a month to apply, which sits above both borough averages but is genuinely in play in prime Battersea and around Nine Elms.
Run the June 2026 ONS private-rent averages through the five-week cap and you get the figure your landlord is holding: about £3,013 in Wandsworth and about £2,911 in Lambeth. By property size, a one-bed comes out near £2,215 in Wandsworth and £2,169 in Lambeth, and a two-bed near £2,817 and £2,700. Those are our own sums on the official rent index rather than quoted prices, and they are the reason a checkout here deserves a couple of hours of your attention.
- Five weeks is the cap below £50,000 annual rent, six weeks above it
- Six weeks applies above about £4,167 a month, which happens in prime Battersea and Nine Elms
- Five-week average: about £3,013 in Wandsworth, about £2,911 in Lambeth
- One-bed: about £2,215 in Wandsworth, about £2,169 in Lambeth
- Two-bed: about £2,817 in Wandsworth, about £2,700 in Lambeth
- Deposit figures are our arithmetic on the ONS Price Index of Private Rents, June 2026
The basics
Where your deposit sits, and who decides.
On an assured shorthold tenancy your deposit has to be protected in one of three government-approved schemes within 30 days of being paid: the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, the Deposit Protection Service or MyDeposits. You should have been given prescribed information naming the scheme and explaining how to get the money back. If you cannot find that paperwork, ask the agent for it now rather than on checkout day.
At the end of the tenancy the deposit comes back minus anything you agree to. Where you do not agree, every scheme runs free alternative dispute resolution and an adjudicator decides the disputed amount on the documents. Only the disputed portion is held while that happens, so the rest can be released to you in the meantime.
What can be deducted
What a landlord can and cannot take.
A deduction has to be reasonable, evidenced and proportionate. Cleaning is chargeable only where the property has not gone back to the cleanliness the check-in report recorded. Damage beyond fair wear and tear is chargeable. Putting the property into better condition than you were given it in is not.
The Tenant Fees Act 2019 ended the blanket clause requiring professional cleaning at the end of a tenancy as a matter of course. Real cleaning costs can still come out of a deposit where the property genuinely is not clean, which is a different thing from a default fee with a name on it. If a proposed deduction reads like a standing charge rather than a described piece of work, ask exactly what it pays for.
- Any deduction must be reasonable, evidenced and proportionate
- Fair wear and tear cannot be charged for
- A default professional-cleaning clause was banned by the Tenant Fees Act 2019
- Cleaning is chargeable only where the property is not returned to check-in standard
- Since 1 May 2026 pet requests cannot be unreasonably refused and the pet insurance backstop was dropped, so hair and odour now land in the deduction column
The evidence
What actually decides a dispute.
Adjudication is a paper exercise. The adjudicator sets the check-in report beside the checkout report, reads them room by room, and weighs dated photographs above everything else. Undated photographs count for little and written assertions count for less. Proving the deduction is the landlord side of the job, not yours: the money is yours until somebody evidences a reason it should not be.
So photograph the property on the day you collect the keys as well as the day you hand them back, and match the angles so the pairs are comparable. Read the meters and write the numbers down. If you pay for a clean, keep the itemised invoice, because it is dated, specific and independent of anybody's opinion about how a kitchen looks.
- Check-in report against checkout report, room by room, is the whole case
- Dated photographs beat undated photographs, which beat recollection
- The landlord proves the deduction, not you
- Ask for an itemised breakdown with evidence before you agree to anything
The cleaning question
Do you have to hire a cleaner? No.
The test is condition, not receipts. Return the property at the cleanliness the check-in report recorded, fair wear and tear allowed, and the standard is met. Nobody can require you to book a professional, and our printable checklist walks the whole property line by line if you would rather do it yourself, free and without an email address.
Two figures have to travel together for this to be honest. Cleaning appears in 54% of deposit dispute cases on Tenancy Deposit Scheme adjudication data published by the NRLA, more than any other category. And only about 1% of deposits reach adjudication at all. The first tells you what arguments are made of; the second tells you how rare the argument is. What a paid clean buys, against a deposit near £3,000, is the hours and a dated itemised invoice, which is the one document that answers the cleaning line outright. A two-bed clean is £245.
If it goes to dispute
The dispute path, step by step.
On handover day, photograph every room in daylight, photograph every appliance interior, read the meters and note the time every key changed hands. If deductions are proposed, ask for them itemised, with the photographs and the quote or invoice behind each line. A vague total often shrinks to a short list at exactly that point.
If you still disagree, say so in writing and make a counter-offer. A deduction is a claim on your money, not a bill you owe. Then raise it with the scheme promptly, because the schemes set time limits, and send the check-in report, the checkout report, your dated photographs and any cleaning invoice. Adjudication is free to you, a decision usually follows within about a month of the evidence going in, and a wrong deduction costs you nothing but the time it takes to contest it.
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Keep reading
Sources and official bodies
FAQ
Deposit questions
What tenants in Wandsworth and Lambeth ask about getting their money back.
How long does a landlord have to return my deposit?
Once any deductions are agreed, the deposit should be back with you inside 10 days. Where there is a dispute, only the disputed part stays with the scheme until it is decided.
How much is a five-week deposit in Wandsworth or Lambeth?
On ONS private-rent averages for June 2026, five weeks works out at about £3,013 in Wandsworth and about £2,911 in Lambeth. A one-bed is nearer £2,215 and £2,169, a two-bed nearer £2,817 and £2,700. Those are our sums on the official index under the Tenant Fees Act cap.
Can my landlord charge me for professional cleaning?
Only where the property has not been returned to the cleanliness standard the check-in report recorded. A default professional-cleaning clause on its own was banned by the Tenant Fees Act 2019.
What counts as fair wear and tear?
Ordinary use over time: carpet thinning in a doorway, small scuffs on a wall, paint that has faded. It is not dirt and it is not damage, and you cannot be charged for it.
What evidence do I need to dispute a deduction?
The check-in report, the checkout report, dated photographs from both ends of the tenancy, and any cleaning invoice. Adjudicators decide on documents, so matching pairs of photographs are worth more than any amount of explaining.
Which scheme holds my money?
One of the three approved schemes: the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, the Deposit Protection Service or MyDeposits. The prescribed information you were given at the start of the tenancy names it.
Do I have to hire a professional cleaner?
No. What is measured is the condition against the check-in report, with fair wear and tear allowed. Adjudicators weigh photographs of a property, not proof that somebody was hired. A paid clean buys hours and evidence, not permission.
How likely is a dispute, really?
Not very. Only about 1% of protected deposits reach formal adjudication. Cleaning is the most argued-about category inside that 1%, appearing in 54% of dispute cases on Tenancy Deposit Scheme data published by the NRLA, which is why it is the line worth removing from the argument in advance.
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