If you and your landlord can't agree on how your deposit should be divided at the end of your tenancy, ADR is the route most people use to resolve it. Each of the three deposit protection schemes (DPS, TDS, and MyDeposits) offers a free adjudication service as part of its statutory role. You don't need to pay anything, you don't need a solicitor, and you don't need to attend a hearing.
Both parties submit their evidence and arguments, and an independent adjudicator reviews the case and makes a decision. The adjudicator isn't employed by either party and has no connection to the landlord or the scheme's commercial interests. Their role is to assess the evidence impartially and decide how the deposit should be split based on the tenancy agreement and the documentation provided.
Both parties must agree to use ADR before it can proceed. If either party refuses, the only alternative is the county court, which involves fees, longer timescales, and more formal procedures. In practice, most landlords and tenants agree to ADR because it's faster, free, and straightforward.
The adjudicator's decision is final and binding on both parties. Once a decision is made, the scheme releases the deposit accordingly. There's no appeal through the scheme itself, although either party can challenge the decision through judicial review in very limited circumstances.
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