Ready Flatz — A renter's reference for furnished and | readyflatz.com
Most deposit losses come from three places — cleaning, wear billed as damage, and missing paperwork — and all three are preventable.
The wear-versus-damage line is the most argued. Wear is scuffing below roughly 5 cm, light sun fading, small nail holes from pictures, and carpet pile lightly but evenly worn; damage is burns, stains, bare patches and broken trim. Only the second list is chargeable, and only against a day-one file that shows the damage is new.
Cleaning is the most common charge and the easiest to pre-empt. An end-of-tenancy deep clean of a one-bedroom flat takes 3 to 6 hours; left undone it is recharged at roughly $60-200 depending on size and condition. The clean belongs at check-out — that is why it appears as a deduction rather than a joining fee.
On narrow screens, swipe or scroll the plate sideways.
Run the last day in order: clean, then the check-out inspection against the signed inventory, then the meter reading — submitted to the supplier within 7 days in the UK or within the current billing cycle elsewhere. Photograph anything the inspector marks before you hand over the keys.
If the statement that arrives within 30 days lists charges that look wrong, ask in writing for the itemised list, an invoice for each charge and the check-out report. Answer with dates: the day-one photographs, the signed inventory, both meter readings.
Most protection schemes will reopen a dispute raised within three years of the tenancy ending, so even an old deduction can be challenged. The full notice and deposit framework sits in Notice Periods and Deposit Rules for a Furnished Flat, and the day-one preparation in The Move-In Condition Checklist.
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