Introducing the Fair Wear & Tear Guidance Library

Release v0.1.49

One of the most consistent sources of deposit disputes — and one of the most preventable — is the grey area around fair wear and tear. What counts as reasonable deterioration after two years? What about five? When does a scuffed wall become a chargeable item, and when is it simply the cost of having someone live in a property?

Today's release gives agents a clear, authoritative answer — at the exact moment they need it.

The Problem with Fair Wear & Tear

Fair wear and tear is well-defined in principle but surprisingly hard to apply consistently in practice. ARLA Propertymark and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) both publish detailed guidance, but that guidance lives in PDFs and policy documents — not in the tools agents use every day.

The result is predictable: agents make calls based on experience (or instinct), claim amounts that don't hold up at adjudication, and tenants dispute deductions they feel are unfair. Everyone loses time. The tenancy ends badly.

What We've Built

The Fair Wear & Tear Guidance Library is a curated, structured reference built directly into the deduction claim builder. It surfaces the right ARLA/TDS guidance for each item — adjusted for the length of the tenancy — inline, without requiring agents to leave the platform or consult external documents.

Add a line item for carpet damage. The library shows you what TDS considers fair wear for carpets after a tenancy of that length. Adjust the claim accordingly. That's it.

Why It Matters

This isn't just about making agents' lives easier (though it does that). It's about fairness.

Over-claiming harms tenants and erodes trust in the deposit system. Under-claiming harms landlords. The guidance library gives both sides a shared, neutral reference point — one that mirrors what an adjudicator would actually use if the dispute went formal.

When agents build claims on the same evidence base that adjudicators use, first-time acceptance rates go up, formal disputes go down, and everyone moves on faster.

What's Covered

The library covers the major item categories you'll encounter at end-of-tenancy:

• Floor coverings (carpets, hard floors, tiles)
• Decorative surfaces (walls, paintwork, wallpaper)
• Fixtures, fittings, and furniture
• Kitchen and bathroom items
• Outdoor spaces

Each entry is keyed to both item type and tenancy length, so the guidance is always specific to the claim at hand — not a generic one-size-fits-all standard.

Get Started

The library is live now and requires no setup. Next time you build a deduction claim, look for the guidance panel alongside each line item. For full details on how the feature works, see the Fair Wear & Tear Guidance Library documentation.