Deposits, and what a landlord can actually keep

A landlord cannot ask for a deposit of more than one month's rent, and cannot ask for more than one month's rent in advance either. Between the two, the most that can be required to secure a tenancy is the equivalent of two months. Anything above that is not enforceable, whatever the advertisement said.

Wear and tear is not damage

Carpet worn along the route between the door and the sofa after three years is wear. A burn in it is damage. Paint that has dulled is wear, a wall repainted a colour that was not agreed is damage. The distinction turns on whether ordinary living caused it, and the landlord has to be able to show which one they are charging for.

What actually decides a dispute

• Photographs taken on the day you moved in, dated, of every room and of anything already marked.
• The inventory, signed by both sides. If there was none, that absence works against the landlord rather than you.
• Photographs on the day you left, taken after the last thing was carried out.
• Written requests for the deposit back, so there is a record of what was asked and when.

If it is not returned

Ask in writing, with a date by which you expect it. If nothing comes, the route is a dispute application to the Residential Tenancies Board. It is open to tenants and landlords, there is a fee, and it does not require a solicitor. Adjudication is the faster path and mediation is the one that tends to preserve a reference.

Withholding the last month's rent instead of the deposit is understandable and is a bad idea. It converts a deposit dispute you would probably win into rent arrears, which is one of the grounds for keeping the deposit and a ground for terminating the tenancy.