Deposit evidence for UK renters
Your landlord has a file on you. Now you have one on them.
Timestamped, tamper-evident photo evidence at move-in and move-out, plus AI-drafted dispute letters when a deduction is not fair.
- £1,200
- average UK deposit
- 4.6m
- deposits protected
- Free
- your first report
Start here
Which one are you?
Scout works the same way for everyone, but the rooms, the prompts and the deadlines change. Pick the closest match.
I'm a student
Halls or a shared house. Your room plus the shared spaces, documented before anyone unpacks — and a house everyone can protect together.
See how it works for youI rent a room
Lodger, HMO or flatshare. Your room is your evidence perimeter, and a dated record of the shared spaces stops you inheriting someone else's damage.
See how it works for youI rent a house or flat
A whole-property record that fills the gaps in the agent's inventory and draws a clear line between fair wear and tear and damage.
See how it works for youHow it works
Four steps, about twenty minutes
You only need your phone. Do it on the day you get the keys, before you unpack.
- 1
Set up your tenancy
Address, move-in date and deposit details. We pre-build your room list from the type of renting you are doing.
- 2
Walk through and capture
Room by room, photograph what you find. Every photo is stamped with the date, time and room label as it is saved.
- 3
Generate your PDF report
A dated condition report with a reference number, room sections and a photo grid. Send it to your landlord or agent the same day.
- 4
Repeat at move-out
Run the same walkthrough at the end of the tenancy. Two reports side by side is what settles most deposit arguments.
Pro feature
A dispute letter drafted from your own evidence
If a deduction is proposed that you disagree with, MyTenancyFile reads your condition report and drafts a structured letter for adjudicators at TDS, DPS or mydeposits. It cites your dated photographs room by room, sets out what you dispute and why, and leaves you in control of every line.
- Reads your move-in and move-out reports
- Structured for scheme adjudicators, not generic complaint templates
- Fully editable before you send it
- Exports as PDF alongside your evidence
AI-generated guidance — not legal advice. Always read a draft in full before sending it.
Draft · MTF-4A2C
Response to proposed deductions
I do not accept the proposed £185 cleaning deduction for the kitchen. My move-in report (MTF-4A2C, 12 September 2025, 14:06) contains eleven dated photographs of the kitchen showing the oven interior and extractor in the same condition recorded at check-out on 4 July 2026…
During the tenancy
Interim reports for everything that happens in between
Deposits are rarely decided by move-in day alone. Log maintenance requests, damage, pests and every message with your landlord or agent as it happens. Each entry is timestamped, categorised and sits in one chronological timeline you can export.
A dated note written in January is worth far more than a memory in July.
- Maintenance
Boiler pressure dropping, reported to agent by email on 14 January.
- Damage
Water stain spreading on the ceiling below the bathroom.
- Pests
Mice heard behind the kitchen units. Photographs of droppings.
- Communication
Agent confirmed a contractor visit within five working days.
What disputes are actually about
Cleaning, damage, redecoration — in that order
Deposit disputes are decided on evidence, and the same three claims come up again and again. Adjudication typically takes four to eight weeks, so the record you need is the one you already made.
54%
of disputes cite cleaning
49%
of disputes cite damage
31%
of disputes cite redecoration
Source: TDS Statistical Briefing 2025. Disputes commonly take four to eight weeks to adjudicate.
Pricing
Your first report is free
No subscription needed to protect one tenancy. Pro exists for renters who want interim logging and dispute letters.
Free
£0
first report
- One full condition report
- Unlimited photos on that report
- PDF export with timestamps
Single report
£3.99
one-off
- One extra condition report
- Move-out comparison
- PDF export with timestamps
Pro monthly
Most chosen£4.99
per month
- Unlimited inspections
- 30 reports a month
- AI-drafted dispute letters
- Interim log with categories
Pro annual
£39.99
per year
- Everything in Pro monthly
- Two tenancies' worth of cover
- Best value — under £3.34 a month
Questions
Common questions
- Will my landlord or an adjudicator accept these photos as evidence?
- Deposit schemes accept dated photographic evidence, and it is one of the strongest things a tenant can bring to adjudication. Every photo you add is recorded with the time it was captured, the room it belongs to and the tenancy reference, and the report is exported as a single dated PDF. Sending that report to your landlord or agent within the first few days of the tenancy also puts your version of events on record early, which matters more than the file format.
- What exactly do I get for free?
- Your first full condition report, with unlimited photos and rooms, and a PDF export. That covers most people's move-in. There is no card required and no trial that quietly starts charging.
- My deposit is already in dispute. Can this still help?
- Yes, if you have photographs on your phone from the start of the tenancy. You can build the report retrospectively, note the original capture dates and log the correspondence you have had so far in the interim timeline. Pro can then draft a structured response letter for the scheme's adjudicator. It is not legal advice and you should read every line before sending it.
- The agent already did a check-in inventory. Do I need my own?
- Yes. Agent inventories are written by the other side, are often text-only and typically under-record small marks and cleanliness. Your own dated photo report is what closes the gaps, and if the two disagree, having both is much better than having only theirs.
- I rent a room and my landlord lives here. Is my deposit protected?
- If you are a lodger in your landlord's own home, your deposit usually does not have to be placed in a government-approved scheme. That means there may be no free adjudication service, and independent evidence matters more, not less. The room-renter path is built around that.
Twenty minutes now, or an argument you cannot win later
Your first report is free. Scout will walk you through it, room by room.
Start free