What counts as fair wear and tear in a UK rental?

What is fair wear and tear?

No Act of Parliament defines it. The phrase appears in the Housing Act 2004 without a definition, and the three deposit schemes use the wording the courts settled long ago: deterioration from reasonable use of the home by the tenant and the ordinary operation of natural forces. In other words, what happens to a home simply by people living in it, and by time passing.

A landlord can’t deduct from a deposit for fair wear and tear. Every scheme’s adjudicator allows for it before deciding a claim, so it shapes what you can ask for.

What is the difference between wear and tear and damage?

The test is whether the change came from normal use, or from carelessness, accident or a deliberate act. The schemes give similar examples (TDS, mydeposits):

Usually fair wear and tear

• paint or wallpaper faded by sunlight
• light scuffs on walls and floors, and furniture marks where furniture stood
• carpet worn flat along the routes people walk
• curtains faded or slightly frayed, and loose handles

Usually damage

• burns, such as from an iron
• stains that cleaning won’t remove, such as red wine or nail varnish
• holes, tears and deep scratches or gouges
• broken furniture, fittings or appliances
• redecorating without permission

Age matters here too. TDS notes that an item already worn at check-in may still count as wear and tear even if it looks damaged by the end.

What do adjudicators take into account?

The joint guide the three schemes publish lists the same factors, and each scheme repeats them:

• How long the tenancy lasted. More years, more wear. DPS says an award for redecoration is unlikely after a tenancy of five years or more (DPS).
• Who lived there. More people means more wear in shared areas, and young children bring scuffs that can’t be avoided. mydeposits includes pets in this.
• The item’s age, quality and condition at the start. A new, good-quality carpet should outlast a budget one that had already been through several tenancies. Receipts showing what you paid help.
• Wear or damage. Whether the change came from normal use or from negligence.

Since 1 May 2026, tenants in England can ask to keep a pet, and a landlord can’t unreasonably refuse (GOV.UK information sheet). Where you agreed to a pet, an adjudicator will expect the wear that comes with one.

What is betterment?

Betterment is ending up better off than you were at the start of the tenancy, once fair wear and tear is allowed for. All three schemes refuse it. The deposit isn’t insurance and doesn’t pay “new for old”: if a five-year-old carpet is ruined, the tenant doesn’t owe the cost of a new one.

The joint guide sets out the order adjudicators think in. Replacement is only fair if an item is damaged beyond economic repair or can’t be used. Otherwise a repair or a clean is the likelier award, or compensation for the value the item lost. You don’t have to have done the work to claim: a quote can support it, though an itemised invoice carries more weight.

How do I work out a fair share of a cost?

Charge the tenant for the life the item had left. The joint guide’s worked example:

1. A carpet costs £500 to replace.
2. It was 2 years old.
3. A carpet like it lasts about 5 years, so it had 3 years of life left.
4. Its value falls by £500 ÷ 5 = £100 a year.
5. The tenant’s fair share is 3 years × £100 = £300.

The schemes add that the method doesn’t suit every case, and the adjudicator decides what is reasonable on the evidence. Still, it is the clearest way to show your claim allows for age, and it is the method TenancyVaults uses when it proposes an amount.

How long do items last, according to the schemes?

Each scheme publishes its own figures, and an adjudicator uses their own scheme’s. They differ more than you might expect, so check the one your deposit is with. Sources: TDS’s guide to product lifespans, DPS and mydeposits.

How does it apply to common items?

Carpets. Even wear along the routes people walk is wear and tear; burns, stains that won’t clean and tears are damage. Carpets are where the schemes’ lifespan figures differ most, so check yours in the table above.

Decoration. mydeposits draws three lines: light marks from everyday living are wear and tear, heavy marks or damage are a breach, and redecorating without permission is a breach (mydeposits). Even where there is a breach, the award is a share of the cost, based on how old the decoration was.

Furniture and appliances. An appliance that stops working through age is wear and tear. One broken through misuse is damage, and the claim is the life it had left, or the repair if that costs less.

Gardens. A tenant is responsible for the garden only if the tenancy agreement says so. mydeposits expects an allowance for seasonal growth, and dated photos and an invoice for the work.

What shows how old an item was?

The adjudicator needs to know an item’s age to allow for it. The best evidence is a purchase receipt or invoice; next best, a check-in report that records when the item was new or fitted, or describes its condition. Without either, the adjudicator makes their own estimate, and assumes a medium-quality item.

Does fair wear and tear apply to cleaning?

No. Cleanliness isn’t worn away by time: the tenant should return the home as clean as it was at check-in. But not cleaner. If the check-in report says “clean” rather than “professionally cleaned”, you can’t claim a professional clean at the end.

In England, a landlord also can’t require a tenant to use professional cleaners: the Tenant Fees Act 2019 bans making a tenant pay a third party for a service. You can still claim the reasonable cost of cleaning the tenant didn’t do. Our post on charging for cleaning goes through the evidence.

How do I show the difference in a dispute?

Wear and tear questions turn on the check-in report. The adjudicator compares the start with the end, so:

• describe each item’s condition and age at check-in, with dated photos, and get the tenant to sign or acknowledge the report
• use the same words and the same photo angles at check-out, so each item can be compared directly
• for each deduction, say what changed, why it goes beyond normal use, and how you worked out the amount

Our scheme guides cover the rest of the process: TDS, DPS and mydeposits.