Research by Access Legal has found that landlords spend a whopping £4.5 billion a year repairing property damage caused by tenants. The biggest problems are broken appliances, damage to carpets, decorating and cigarette burns. According to the TDS, damage accounts for 56% of all deposit disputes. A further concern is that some tenants may be trying to avoid eviction by damaging the property and abusing the new rules designed to stop so called “revenge evictions”. Another study showed that 1 in 10 tenants admitted to causing £500 worth of damage to their rented property. This shows that whilst the new legislation protects tenants from being evicted due to a genuine disrepair issue, it is open to dishonest tenants bending the law to avoid eviction.