The Law To Know

Bring-Your-Own-AI Lab · For lawyers · Free

The held deposit

The brief

A landlord wants to keep a tenant’s whole deposit after she moves out. You will ask an AI to advise on a short fictional file, then check its answer against six traps hidden in the documents. Run it twice: once with a plain prompt and once with a better one.

  1. Copy the case file and the starter prompt below into the AI tool you normally use.
  2. Read its answer. Do not look for our traps yet: read it as you would at work.
  3. Come back and score the answer against the six checks.
  4. Improve the prompt, run it again, and score the second answer.

The file is entirely fictional, so it is safe to paste into any tool. Do not add real client information to an AI tool your employer has not approved. We do not see your AI’s answer or your scores: nothing leaves this page.

The case file

FICTIONAL CASE FILE: HALE AND MERRIWEATHER PROPERTIES (Republic of Eastmark)

DOCUMENT 1: Tenancy Agreement (extract), dated 1 September 2023
Parties: Merriweather Properties Ltd (the Landlord) and Nia Hale (the Tenant). Property: Flat 4, 12 Quay Street.
Clause 2 (Term). A fixed term of twelve months from 1 September 2023, then a periodic tenancy from month to month.
Clause 5 (Deposit). The Tenant paid a deposit of £1,200. The Landlord will hold it in an approved deposit scheme and give the Tenant the scheme’s details within 30 days of receipt.
Clause 6 (Deductions). The Landlord may deduct from the deposit the reasonable cost of repairing damage beyond fair wear and tear, and any unpaid rent. The Landlord must give an itemised list of deductions with evidence.
Clause 9 (Cleaning). The Tenant must return the flat in the same level of cleanliness as at the start, shown in the inventory.
Clause 12 (Notices). Notices must be in writing and sent by post to the address in the Schedule, or delivered by hand.

DOCUMENT 2: Inventory and move-out records
Inventory at move-in (1 September 2023), signed by both: ‘Carpet in living room: worn at the doorway. Walls: some marks near the kitchen door. Oven: used, greasy.’
Move-out checklist (31 August 2024), signed by the Landlord’s agent only: ‘Carpet: stained and worn. Walls: marks near kitchen door. Oven: clean. Fridge door: cracked.’

DOCUMENT 3: Emails and notes
10 October 2023, Landlord to Tenant by email: ‘Your deposit is protected with SafeHold, reference 55-3321.’
15 September 2024, Landlord to Tenant by email: ‘I am keeping the whole deposit of £1,200 for carpet replacement (£900), a new fridge door (£200) and cleaning (£100). Invoices to follow.’
20 September 2024, Tenant to Landlord by email: ‘The carpet was worn when I moved in. The fridge door was already cracked in March; I told your agent by phone. The flat was clean.’

DOCUMENT 4: Note from the Landlord
Invoices have not yet been sent. The Landlord says the Tenant caused the damage and wants to know whether the deductions are justified.

The starter prompt

You are helping a landlord. Using the documents below, advise whether the deductions the Landlord proposes from the deposit are justified, and list what the Landlord should do next.

[Paste the case file here]

“Copy prompt and file” puts the prompt and the whole file on your clipboard in one go.

Before you run it · optional

Where do you expect an AI to go wrong on a file like this? Tick any that apply.

Run 1 · score the answer to the starter prompt

For each check, look at where it points in the file and decide what your AI’s answer did.

  1. Check 1

    Look at: Document 2: the move-in inventory and the move-out checklist; clause 6.

    Does the AI accept that the carpet damage justifies £900 without noting that the inventory already records the carpet as worn at move-in?

  2. Check 2

    Look at: Document 2: ‘Oven: clean’; Document 3: the £100 cleaning charge; clause 9.

    Does the AI support the £100 cleaning charge without noticing that the Landlord’s own checklist records the oven as clean?

  3. Check 3

    Look at: Document 3: the Tenant’s email of 20 September; Document 2: the checklist.

    Does the AI treat the cracked fridge door as proven damage by the Tenant, or as proven pre-existing? Does it say that neither is shown by the documents?

  4. Check 4

    Look at: Document 4; clause 6.

    Does the AI say the deductions are proper without noting that clause 6 requires an itemised list with evidence and that invoices have not been sent?

  5. Check 5

    Look at: Clause 5; Document 3: the email of 10 October 2023.

    Does the AI say the Landlord failed to protect the deposit or to give the scheme’s details in time, without checking the dates?

  6. Check 6

    Look at: The whole file: it contains no statute, case or deposit-scheme rule.

    Does the AI cite any statute, case or deposit-scheme rule, or state a penalty for the Landlord, that does not appear in the documents?

Professional skills training with fictional material. It is not legal advice and is not accredited by any court, regulator or professional body. We are not affiliated with any AI provider, and the lab works with any tool.