How to handle a DPS deposit dispute as a landlord

How does a DPS dispute start?

It depends on who holds the deposit. With DPS Custodial, DPS holds the money. With DPS Insured, you or your agent hold it and DPS insures it. Your protection certificate says which.

DPS Custodial. Either of you can ask DPS to repay the deposit, online, by phone or on a paper form. You enter each deduction and the amount, and DPS sends them to the tenant. The tenant agrees or disagrees with each one, gives reasons, and says whether they will use DPS’s dispute service. You then accept or reject the tenant’s response (custodial terms, clause 16). Anything you don’t claim is paid to the tenant.

If the tenant can’t be contacted, or hasn’t replied within 14 days of being told in writing, there is a statutory declaration route (clause 20). The declaration has to be sworn before a solicitor, commissioner for oaths or magistrate, and DPS won’t accept a claim for fair wear and tear through it.

DPS Insured. The tenant raises the dispute with DPS, within 90 days of the tenancy ending. DPS then sends you a Notification of Dispute form. You have 10 calendar days to return it, with an itemised breakdown of your deductions, and to pay the disputed amount to DPS (insured terms, clause 18). If you don’t respond, you’re treated as having agreed to the dispute service. You still owe the tenant the part that isn’t in dispute, so pay it promptly.

Do both sides have to agree to use DPS’s dispute service?

Yes. Both sides must consent, and once given, consent can’t be withdrawn. If one side refuses, they have 6 months to settle or start court proceedings, or DPS may pay the disputed amount to the other side (custodial clause 21(d), insured clause 21(o)).

The service is free: each side pays only its own costs of preparing. Since May 2026, DPS may charge a fee, or decline the dispute, if the tenancy isn’t an assured periodic tenancy or occupation contract, and it may decline disputes over deposits of £5,000 or more (custodial clauses 21(q)–(r) and 26).

How long do I have to send DPS my evidence?

DPS sends both of you an evidence request at the same time. Each side has 14 calendar days from that email, for custodial and insured deposits alike, and evidence must arrive before midnight on the deadline day (DPS dispute process). For an insured deposit, the request comes after you’ve returned the Notification of Dispute form.

The days are calendar days: weekends and bank holidays count, so the deadline doesn’t move if it lands on a Sunday. Our evidence deadline calculator works it out from the date of DPS’s email.

Neither of you sees the other’s evidence before the adjudicator does, and there’s no stage to reply to it, so send everything the first time. If one side neither sends evidence nor confirms it has none, DPS may release the disputed amount to the other side.

How do I send my evidence?

Custodial: upload it online. Your written statement (DPS calls it “additional information to support your claim”) can be up to 1,000 characters. Put anything longer in a document and upload that. Each upload can be up to 40MB, and you can make as many uploads as you need. DPS doesn’t accept evidence by email or as cloud links for custodial cases (custodial clause 21(p)).

Insured: send it by email to DPS’s insured team, or by post, so that it arrives before midnight on the deadline day (insured clause 16(k)).

What evidence does a DPS adjudicator look for?

DPS says the minimum for any claim about the property’s condition is a signed tenancy agreement, plus signed check-in and check-out reports (DPS dispute process). Without a tenancy agreement, a claim is likely to fail. Beyond that, DPS lists:

• interim inspection reports
• invoices, estimates, receipts and quotes, with contractors’ costs itemised
• a rent statement for arrears, showing what was owed, what was paid and how the balance is worked out
• date-stamped photos or video, each with an explanation of what it shows
• correspondence with the tenant, including texts and messages
• witness statements (the adjudicator won’t contact or question witnesses)

DPS’s guide to what makes a reasonable claim adds that a report you made yourself, unsigned and without photos, is unlikely to carry much weight. The tenant’s signature on the check-in report matters most. If they didn’t sign, an email showing you sent it, or a message agreeing to it, helps.

If you don’t send quotes or invoices, the adjudicator may estimate the cost from their own research, so send them.

How should I set out each deduction?

Make each deduction stand on its own: what is wrong, which clause of the tenancy it breaks, what it costs and where the evidence is. Point to the page of each report and the number of each photo. Keep the statement to the facts; the adjudicator decides on what you can show, not on how the tenancy went.

For a custodial deposit, 1,000 characters goes quickly. Use the online field for a summary and upload a fuller statement that takes each deduction in turn.

How does DPS treat fair wear and tear and betterment?

DPS uses the long-standing definition of fair wear and tear: deterioration from reasonable use by the tenant and the ordinary operation of natural forces. Adjudicators weigh how long the tenancy lasted, how many people lived there and their ages, the item’s expected life, and its quality and condition at the start (In disputes, be fair).

You can’t end up better off than you were at the start of the tenancy, once wear and tear is allowed for. So DPS won’t award a new carpet for an old one, a full professional clean where the property wasn’t professionally clean at check-in, or redecoration to a higher standard. It also says an award for redecoration is unlikely after a tenancy of five years or more. Our guide to fair wear and tear shows how a fair share is worked out.

What happens after the evidence is in?

DPS checks each case before it goes to an adjudicator. The adjudicator usually decides within 15 working days of receiving the papers (custodial clause 24(e)). DPS’s own timeline puts the decision about six weeks after the evidence request, then a few business days for the bank payment.

Can I challenge a DPS decision?

The decision is final and binding, and there is no appeal through DPS. You can complain only if there was a clear error of fact or law, and DPS has to receive the complaint within 3 months of the decision (custodial clause 30(c), insured clause 24). Being unhappy with the outcome isn’t grounds. Beyond that, the route is the courts.

An award can’t be more than the money in dispute: the deposit for a custodial case, the disputed amount for an insured one. Evidence sent after a decision isn’t considered.

How common are DPS disputes?

Fewer than 5% of deposits protected by DPS end in a dispute, and cleaning has been the most common reason for deposit claims for five years running, at about 29% of claims in 2025 (DPS, June 2026).

Does this apply in Wales?

DPS protects deposits in England and Wales, and the dispute process is the same in both. The law around deposits differs: this guide describes England. In Wales, deposits fall under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016.