New figures show that in England and Wales, 69 per cent of disputed deposits are split between the landlord and tenant, with the tenant getting all of the disputed deposit back in 16 per cent of all disputes.  

In Scotland, the equivalent figures are 65 per cent shared, with 21 per cent of cases seeing the tenant get back all of the disputed award.  In Northern Ireland, the data shows the tenant gets back the deposit in 39 per cent of all disputes, with 49 per cent of the disputes seeing a shared outcome.

The figures come from The Dispute Service’s annual report for 2020-21.

The Dispute Service operates a number of statutory tenancy deposit protection schemes in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

As part of the overall service, agents, landlords and tenants have access to free dispute resolution in relation to disputes about the distribution of the deposit at the end of the tenancy.  

It also offers free mediation and conciliation services through TDS Resolution in England and Wales and SDS Resolution in Scotland. These operations focus on tenant and landlord disputes arising during a tenancy and aim to help landlords and tenants reach a suitable solution which allows them to sustain their tenancies. 

“We receive about 22,500 initial dispute requests each year at The Dispute Service and many of these are resolved by the landlords and tenants themselves or by our own early resolution efforts. We issue around 15,500 formal adjudications each year. It’s interesting to see the data on these disputes and share it with the industry with the aim of helping them to avoid common disagreements in the future” comments Steve Harriott, chief executive at the Dispute Service.

The report can now be accessed for free here.