What is fair wear and tear?

What does fair wear and tear mean in a rental property?

It’s the decline a home goes through when people live in it reasonably, and as time passes. Paint fades in sunlight, carpets flatten where people walk and handles work loose. However well a tenant looks after a home, it won’t be in the same condition at the end of the tenancy as at the start (TDS).

A landlord can’t charge a tenant for fair wear and tear, only for damage beyond normal use (mydeposits). Every scheme’s adjudicator (the scheme’s impartial decision-maker) allows for it before deciding any claim about condition.

Where does the definition come from?

Not from an Act of Parliament. The Housing Act 2004 uses the phrase without defining it. Its rules for a custodial claim made when the tenant doesn’t respond exclude “damage caused by fair wear and tear” (Housing Act 2004, Schedule 10, paragraph 4A).

The schemes use the words of a House of Lords judgment instead: “reasonable use of the premises by the tenant and the ordinary operation of natural forces” (DPS, joint guide). The first half covers everyday living. The second covers time, light and damp, which affect a home even when nobody is careless.

What counts as reasonable depends on the home and who lives there. So each case is decided on its own evidence, and no two are the same (DPS).

What counts as fair wear and tear, and what counts as damage?

Ask whether the change came from normal use and age, or from carelessness, accident, misuse or a deliberate act. Wear happens gradually through normal use. Damage is often sudden or avoidable (mydeposits).

Usually fair wear and tear

• paint faded by sunlight, and light scuffs or rub marks on walls
• carpet flattened along walkways, furniture dents and slight fading
• loose door handles and toilet seats
• fraying or discolouration that comes with age

Usually damage

• burns, such as from an iron or a cigarette
• stains that cleaning won’t remove
• holes, tears and deep gouges
• items broken through misuse
• alterations made without permission

These examples come from the schemes’ own guidance (mydeposits, mydeposits, TDS). TDS sets out pairs that show where the line falls. Soiling on a carpet isn’t wear and tear, but discolouration with age could be. An iron burn or a tear isn’t, but fraying from age or poor fitting could be.

Walls and pets raise their own questions. See are scuff marks on walls fair wear and tear? and is pet damage ever fair wear and tear?

What do adjudicators take into account?

The same things at every scheme (joint guide, DPS, TDS):

1. How long the tenancy lasted. The longer the tenancy, the more natural wear. It also matters how many tenancies an item had already seen.
2. Who lived there. More occupants means more wear in shared rooms, and families with children cause more. A single person should cause much less.
3. The item’s age, quality and condition at the start. It isn’t reasonable to fault a tenant for normal wear to budget or older items.
4. Where in the home. Decoration wears faster in a hallway, kitchen or bathroom than in a bedroom or study.

At TDS, a let of several years to a family with young children and pets calls for a greater allowance. A six-month let to one person working full time calls for less (TDS).

Who has to prove it’s damage and not wear?

You do, as the landlord. The deposit belongs to the tenant, and the law requires the landlord to prove they’re entitled to a deduction (DPS). The adjudicator decides on the balance of probabilities, from what each side sends.

That makes the check-in report the starting point. At TDS, if the check-in doesn’t describe an item, the adjudicator won’t assume it was in good condition (TDS). Without a record of the start, there’s nothing to measure wear against.

How does fair wear and tear limit what I can claim?

In two ways. First, wear itself isn’t chargeable, so faded paint or a flattened carpet isn’t a deduction on its own. Second, where your tenant did cause damage, the claim is reduced for the item’s age.

A tenancy deposit doesn’t work like an insurance policy that pays new for old (TDS). Replacement is fair only when an item is beyond economic repair or can’t be used. Otherwise the remedy is a repair, a clean, or compensation for the value or life the item lost (joint guide).

In one mydeposits case, a worktop already showing wear at check-in was burned by a pan. The landlord claimed £894 for a new one and was awarded £268.20, or 30%, because the full cost would have been betterment (mydeposits). Betterment means ending up better off than at the start. It’s explained in why do so many landlords get betterment wrong?

Does fair wear and tear apply to cleaning?

No. It applies to the condition of a home, not how clean it is (mydeposits). At TDS, fair wear and tear isn’t relevant in cleaning claims (TDS). Your tenant owes the standard recorded at check-in, whether they stayed one year or six. Does fair wear and tear apply to cleaning? covers where cleaning ends and wear begins.

Did the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 change fair wear and tear?

Not the test. The schemes’ current guidance still uses the House of Lords’ wording (DPS). What changed in England from 1 May 2026 is the tenancy itself. Assured shorthold tenancies became assured periodic tenancies (GOV.UK). Tenants can now ask to keep a pet, and a landlord can’t unreasonably refuse (Housing Act 1988, section 16A). An agreed pet raises the wear an adjudicator expects.

Wales has its own tenancy law. Most tenancies there are occupation contracts under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, which sets its own deposit rules (section 45).

Where next?

The guide to fair wear and tear for landlords works through the schemes’ own example of reducing a cost for age, with each scheme’s lifespan figures. The deposit deduction calculator does that sum for your own items. For carpets, see how long is a carpet expected to last? When your evidence is ready, a deposit dispute pack sets each deduction against the check-in and check-out reports, with a figure reduced for age for you to check.