Wear and tear in a rental property: landlord guide | August

Wear and tear in a rental property: what landlords can and cannot deduct

You cannot charge a tenant for fair wear and tear. You can only deduct from the deposit for damage that goes beyond it, and only when you can evidence both the damage and a fair, depreciated cost. That single principle decides most end-of-tenancy disagreements, and getting it wrong is one of the most common reasons landlords lose at adjudication.

The hard part is the line between the two. Faded paintwork, a worn patch on a hallway carpet, a slightly stiff lock after three years of daily use: all of that is the property ageing through ordinary living, and none of it is chargeable. A cigarette burn in that same carpet is not. This guide sets out where the line falls, how much you can realistically recover when something is genuinely damaged, and how to keep a deduction defensible if a tenant challenges it. For the legal definition itself, our dictionary entry on fair wear and tear sets out how the term is used across deposit scheme guidance and case law.

A quick note on terminology, because it trips people up. "Normal wear and tear", "fair wear and tear" and "reasonable wear and tear" all mean the same thing in the UK rental sector, and tenancy agreements use them interchangeably. The courts lean on a House of Lords description of the reasonable use of the premises by the tenant and the ordinary operation of natural forces. In plain terms: the gradual, expected decline that happens to any home that is lived in.

What counts as fair wear and tear

The test is one question. Would this deterioration have happened anyway, with a careful and responsible tenant simply living there for the length of the tenancy? If yes, it is almost certainly fair wear and tear, and it is yours to absorb.

On walls and paintwork, minor scuffs, small nail holes from picture hooks and slight discolouration around switches are all wear. Internal paint in an occupied room has a useful life of roughly three to five years, so you cannot expect a tenant to fund redecoration on that cycle. Large stains, gouges, crayon, or damage from adhesive strips are a different matter.

Carpets are the most contested area at check-out. Flattened pile in doorways and on stairs, slight fading and minor thinning are expected, and the heavier the traffic the more you should anticipate. Burns, large stains, pet urine damage and tears go beyond ordinary use. The honest way to judge it is to compare the check-in report against the check-out condition, and to factor in how old the carpet was when the tenant moved in. Hard flooring follows the same logic: light surface scratches from furniture and footfall are wear, while deep gouges from dragged furniture or cracked tiles from impact are damage. Fixtures age too, so a loose handle or a limescaled shower head is normal, whereas a door broken by force is not.

One point that is easy to miss: wear and tear is about condition, not cleanliness. A carpet can be old and worn and still need to be returned clean. A tenant cannot leave the property dirty on the grounds that something was past its best.

Fair wear and tear after 5 years: how tenancy length changes the maths

Tenancy length is one of the most important factors in any assessment, and it is the question landlords ask most as tenancies get longer. The longer someone has lived in a property, the more deterioration is reasonable, and the less you can recover for items that have simply aged out.

As a working guide, carpets and flooring last roughly five to ten years depending on quality and traffic, internal paint and decoration three to five years in occupied rooms, curtains and blinds five to seven years, white goods such as washing machines and dishwashers eight to ten years, and upholstered furniture seven to ten years. After a five-year tenancy, carpets, paint and lighter furnishings have usually reached or are approaching the end of that life. If they need replacing, you cannot claim the full cost. At most you can claim a proportion that reflects how much useful life the tenant's damage actually cost you.

This matters more under the 2026 tenancy rules than it used to. With fixed terms abolished and tenancies now running as periodic assured tenancies, some will continue for many years, so the lifespan and depreciation analysis is doing more of the work than it once did. The principle is unchanged, but it applies to longer occupancies.

How much you can actually claim: betterment and depreciation

When you are working out a deduction, start from the item's remaining value, not its replacement price. The principle that governs this is betterment: you are not entitled to end up better off than you would have been had the tenant simply lived there and the item aged normally. You cannot put a brand-new carpet against a five-year-old one and send the tenant the bill.

A worked example makes it concrete. Say a mattress cost £400 new, has an expected life of eight years, and is four years old at the end of the tenancy. Half its life is gone, so its remaining value is around £200. If the tenant has genuinely damaged it beyond use, £200 is the most you could reasonably claim, and only if the damage is proven. The same applies to that carpet: if it had a five-year life and was already three years old at check-in, only about two years of life remained, so a fair claim reflects those two-fifths, not a full replacement.

Where damage is extensive across the property, you might set it all out in a schedule of dilapidations at the end of the tenancy, but the same rules of proportionality and depreciation still apply to every line of it. For the full method, see our guide to dilapidations. And on the tax side, note that the old 10% wear and tear allowance for furnished lets was abolished in 2016 and replaced by the Replacement of Domestic Items Relief, which lets you claim the actual cost of replacing furnishings rather than a flat percentage. The full conditions are on gov.uk.

In practice, the deductions that survive a challenge are the ones with a paper trail behind them: a dated condition record at the start, a like-for-like comparison at the end, and a receipt or quote that shows the real cost before depreciation. The figure on its own rarely convinces an adjudicator; the evidence does. August's document storage keeps check-in and check-out reports, dated photos and receipts against each property, so the proof sits in one place rather than scattered across email and a phone camera roll.

Wear and tear versus damage, room by room

The distinction is easiest to apply by room. In the kitchen, minor scratches on worktops, faded or slightly chipped cabinet fronts and worn flooring in front of the oven are wear; large burns or deep cuts, cracked tiles and broken cabinet doors are damage. In the bathroom, limescale on fittings, discoloured grouting where ventilation is adequate, and surface scratches on the bath are wear; cracked tiles, a toilet seat broken by misuse, a towel rail pulled from the wall, or mould caused by a tenant consistently failing to ventilate are damage. In living rooms and bedrooms, scuffed skirting, marks near switches, lightly worn carpet and faded paint are wear; large holes, burns, broken fixtures and deeply stained upholstery are damage. On the stairs and landing, concentrated carpet wear is expected because it is the most trafficked part of any home, while broken balusters or a ripped-up carpet are not.

A short real example. A two-bedroom flat let to a professional couple for three years comes back with a thin, worn hallway carpet, light scuffs near the switches, a saggy and faded sofa, and one blind bent with slats missing. The first three are textbook fair wear and tear. The broken blind is the only item that might support a deduction, and even then only at its depreciated value.

Can a landlord charge for wear and tear?

No. You cannot charge a tenant for fair wear and tear, whether the tenancy ends amicably or in dispute, and a deduction that is really for ageing rather than damage will be rejected. This is enforced through the government-approved deposit protection schemes, TDS, DPS and MyDeposits, which landlords in England and Wales must use; gov.uk sets out the deposit protection rules. If you attempt to claim for something that clearly falls under fair wear and tear, the scheme is likely to refuse it, and where a landlord cannot justify their position the deposit may be returned in full, even where other deductions might have stood. If you are weighing up whether a specific deduction is defensible, our guide to tenancy deposit disputes walks through the evidence adjudicators expect and how they reason.

Who is responsible for what

You, as landlord, maintain the structure and exterior and keep heating, plumbing and electrics safe and working, and you replace items that wear out through fair use. The tenant must use the property in a tenant-like manner, report problems promptly, keep it clean and return it in a hygienic state, and is liable for damage caused by negligence or misuse. The boundary is set out in detail in our guide to landlord and tenant repair obligations.

How to keep disputes from happening

Most wear and tear arguments are won or lost before the tenant has even moved out, in the quality of the records. Four habits do almost all of the work.

Document the property thoroughly at the start, with a dated, photographed inventory that captures the real condition of flooring, fixtures, furniture and any existing marks. Set expectations early, especially with first-time renters, so they know what counts as acceptable and what does not. Inspect periodically, for example every six months, which catches maintenance issues before they compound and gives tenants a chance to flag concerns. And keep every receipt, repair record and message about maintenance, because that is the material an adjudicator actually weighs.

Conduct a thorough check-out

The check-out is where all of that preparation pays off, and it deserves to be a deliberate step rather than a quick look round. Walk the property against the original inventory, photograph anything that has changed, and record it in a structured check-out report so you have a clean before-and-after comparison. Distinguish, item by item, between what has simply aged and what has been damaged, and price any genuine damage at its depreciated value rather than its replacement cost. Our guide to end of tenancy inventory checks and cleaning sets out the full process. Knowing the expected lifespan of each item helps here, and our property inventory calculator models replacement dates and an annual reserve based on UK mid-market lifespans, so a worn-out item is a planned cost rather than a surprise.

To keep replacement costs and receipts in order as you go, August's expenses tracking logs costs, receipts and VAT against each property, which is exactly the record you need if a depreciated claim is ever questioned.

The grey areas

Not everything is clear cut. Damp from a structural cause such as rising damp is the landlord's responsibility; damp from a tenant never ventilating a bathroom may not be, and clear inspection notes are what separate the two. Pet damage is a question of degree: if pets are permitted, some extra wear is expected, but claw-torn upholstery or urine-soaked carpet is damage, so recording the condition of floors and furniture in detail at the start is worth the effort. Accidental damage, a smashed window or red wine on a carpet, is still damage even though it was not deliberate, but you should still apply age and depreciation before deciding how much to deduct. And if you redecorate or upgrade during the tenancy, including decorating a rental property to a higher standard, the tenant should not fund an improvement made for your benefit.

Fair wear and tear FAQs for UK landlords

Can a landlord charge for wear and tear? 

No. Tenants cannot be charged for fair wear and tear. You can only deduct from the deposit for damage beyond reasonable use, and only at the item's depreciated value with evidence to support it.

What is fair wear and tear after 5 years? 

After a five-year tenancy, most standard items such as carpets, paintwork and soft furnishings are at or past their expected life. You cannot recover the full replacement cost; an adjudicator applies depreciation and, in many cases, awards little or nothing for items that have simply reached the end of their natural life.

What is considered excessive wear and tear? 

Deterioration that would not have happened through normal, careful use: large holes in walls, burns on carpets, broken fixtures, deeply stained upholstery, animal damage to flooring. These can support a deposit deduction, priced after depreciation.

Who decides what counts as wear and tear? 

If you and the tenant cannot agree, the deposit protection scheme adjudicates on the evidence, chiefly the inventory, the check-in and check-out reports and dated photographs. The party with the clearer contemporaneous record almost always prevails.

What if the property was renovated during the tenancy? 

Document any upgrade. Tenants should not pay for improvements made for the landlord's benefit, so only seek a contribution where there is genuine damage beyond fair wear and tear, adjusted for age and depreciation.

Fairness is the cheaper option

Wear and tear is simply the cost of a property being lived in, which is the whole point of letting it. Landlords who assess condition reasonably, document it well and price damage honestly tend to keep tenants longer and avoid scheme challenges. Those who chase tenants for ageing they were always going to absorb tend to lose the deduction and the goodwill. Prepare thoroughly, keep clear records, and the end of a tenancy becomes a routine reconciliation rather than a fight.

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This article is a guide and not intended to be relied upon as legal or professional advice, or as a substitute for it. August does not accept any liability for any errors, omissions or misstatements contained in this article. Always speak to a suitably qualified professional if you require specific advice or information.