The inventory is the document you are arguing with
Your deposit is judged against the check-in inventory, which is a record of the property's condition when you arrived. Everything at the end is compared to that, and if it was not recorded at the start it is assumed to be yours.
So before a single box moves, photograph the property. Not artistically — evidentially. Corners, skirtings, door frames, the hallway, anything already marked.
What actually gets deducted for
Not dramatic damage. The overwhelming majority of deductions are scuffs and marks on fixed surfaces: door frames, stairwell walls, skirting boards, and drag marks on flooring.
That is good news, because it is the cheapest category of damage to prevent entirely and it is almost all caused in the first and last few feet of the journey.
- Door frames — the single most scuffed surface in any move.
- Stairwell walls, especially at the turn.
- Laminate and vinyl — drag marks rather than scratches.
- Carpet indentations under heavy furniture, which usually recover if the landlord is reasonable.
The sequencing mistake
Booking the end-of-tenancy clean before the removal. A clean has to happen on an empty property, and a cleaner arriving to a flat with furniture in it either does a worse job or charges to come back.
Removal first, clean second, check-out third. It sounds obvious written down and it is the most common ordering error in a rental move.
What is yours to do
Fixings. Shelf brackets, TV mounts and picture hooks came with you and they should leave with you, and the holes want filling. Filler and a touch of paint is dramatically cheaper than the deduction for making good.
And photograph the property empty at the end. We do that too and send it to you, but a second set from your own phone costs nothing.