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In the UK, deposits for an Assured-Shorthold Tenancy Agreement (AST) are protected under a Tenancy Deposit Scheme. Which provides protection for tenants and arbitration should there be any disputes.

However, a License Agreement may specify that a deposit is not protected under any kind of tenancy deposit scheme, and also that the licensee is not protected under the housing act of 1988. Therefore, the tenant's deposit is held by the licensor in a 'client account', who gets to dictate the deductions at the end of the license agreement as well as what these cost.

Should there be a situation where there is a dispute in the inventory report/ deposit return. What legal methods/ pathways are available to a tenant who wishes to dispute this and take it to a court if necessary?

I tried the following question but to no avail, because many questions relate to AST agreements and not to license agreements:

Hamish Gibson
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As mentioned in the comments, first check if it actually an assured tenancy and not a mis-described licence agreement.

If it is a licence agreement then deposits are not protected in the same way as assured tenancies, so

For licences, you should raise your dispute with the landlord first in writing (and it is definitely worth getting advice to do this) but if you cannot resolve this, your only option is to go to the County Court to issue a claim against your landlord. See Here

(This source is for student accommodation but the process is the same for all licence agreements, just this was the best explanation I could find)

user 55905
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