Deposit paperwork at the end of a Ceredigion tenancy

A tenancy ends in Aberystwyth at the end of June. The keys come back on a Friday. Then the check-out notes need writing up, the deposit deductions need setting out, and the letters need dates on them before they go to the tenant. By the time the file is closed, a tenancy in Lampeter has ended and the same pile is back.

The shape is the same every time. A check-out note, a schedule of what comes off the deposit, a letter setting it out, a deadline to reply, then a follow-up if nothing comes back. Cardigan and Aberaeron run the same process as Aberystwyth. The names and the dates change, and that is all.

The part that needs a person is the argument. Whether a mark on the wall is fair wear or damage, and whether a missing item was on the inventory, are judgement calls. They belong to someone who knows the property and the tenant. The rest is repetition, and repetition can be prepared ahead.

The maths (a sketch, not a client figure)

Assume the office time for one tenancy ending runs to a few hours: the check-out write-up, the deduction schedule, the letters and the chasing. Assume an hourly rate of £30. Both are assumptions, not measured figures.

• 3 hours per tenancy ending, assumed
• at £30 an hour, assumed = £90 per ending
• 12 endings a year, assumed = £1,080 a year

With a draft step, the software holds the dates and prepares each letter from your check-out notes. A named person reads, edits and approves it, and the argument still comes to them.

Score it: the three checks

• Hours. Three or more hours for each tenancy ending, plus the time spent remembering where each one got to. If endings come roughly monthly, that is most of a day a month.
• Repeat. Every ending runs in the same order: check-out notes, deduction schedule, letter, reply deadline, follow-up. If a new starter could follow that order from one written page, it can be prepared for you.
• Risk-if-wrong. A letter with the wrong figure or the wrong date can turn a clean ending into a deposit dispute. That is what decides who checks it: a named person, every time, with money and legal wording left approval-only.

Try one thing this week (free)

Take one tenancy that is ending this week and write the order down on a single page. Note the wording you use for the check-out note and the deduction letter, and the point at which you chase a reply. On Friday, check whether that page carried you through without you having to invent a step.

Where a person stays

Software prepares, a named person decides. The software can hold the dates, lay out the check-out notes, and draft the deduction letter from the figures you give it. The decision on what comes off a deposit stays with a person who knows the property. So does the tone of every letter, and the choice to send it or hold it back. Nothing goes out unchecked, and anything touching money or the law stays approval-only.

FAQ