deposit preflight

Check a Commercial Deposit Clause Before You Sign — Free

Paste the deposit clause and the schedules attached to it, and see which deductions the clause actually allows before you sign.

The proof surface

Deductions come from schedules, permissions come from clauses. Checking one against the other is the whole exercise, and it is much cheaper before signature than after.

Inputthe deposit clause plus every schedule item attached to it

Rare devicereads the deposit clause as a list of permitted deductions against the reader's own clause text, not against a generic lease guide

Output artifacta checklist of permitted deductions with unlisted items left open

Cost$0 · local-first · one free run · samples labelled

Sample, not your facts: Sample: Clause 7.3 damage beyond fair wear, Schedule 3 professional cleaning, deposit $6,000, 90 days notice — four concrete points across four types.

Why the flat version breaks

Schedules without clauses

A cleaning schedule with no cleaning clause is the most common commercial deposit dispute, and it is visible before signature.

Open-ended return dates

Deposits with no stated return timescale drift for months after exit, and the leverage is much weaker once the keys are handed back.

Reinstatement surprises

Alterations made before your tenancy, or partitioning the landlord approved, still appear in schedules that were never updated.

How to work the deposit preflight

List clauses and schedules

One item per line with the clause or schedule number you are quoting.

Enter the deposit

The held sum sits beside the deduction list so each open item has a money value.

Read the cover

Items get a tick or an exclamation box, with the open count printed on the index line.

Object before signing

Ask for a clause covering each schedule item, in writing, before you sign anything.

What the preflight replaces

Question	Before	On the cover
Which deductions are allowed	read the lease twice	clause items marked against schedule items
What to negotiate	'the deposit worries me'	the specific unlisted schedule items
When the money returns	ask after exit	a return timescale item on the list

The checklist is generic; your lease controls what is enforceable, and an unanswered item is not a legal conclusion.

Run it on the samples, right here

FIRST-LOAD

Data note: Everything runs in this browser tab on the deposit preflight: your lease clauses and schedules stays on this device, nothing is uploaded, and the reading is rebuilt only when you press run.

Go deeper: the companion app files the same reading as a stapled evidence packet

The article demo above runs without limits. The companion app keeps a local history, exports the rows as CSV, prints the ready-to-mail packet, and holds your drafts on this device — one free run, then $ 9 one-time for the layer that keeps filing.

The preflight and the open items are free. The paid layer keeps the clause and prints the schedule objection list.

Open the deposit clause preflight companion

Boundary

This deposit preflight works only on the clause and schedule text you paste you paste. It does not give legal advice on the lease, does not decide what is enforceable in law, and does not negotiate the clause for you. The figures describe what you supplied, not what is true in the world. Confirm anything you plan to act on with a commercial property solicitor before signing before you rely on it.

What this is built on

Every figure comes from the clause and schedule text you paste you paste; nothing is looked up, scraped or asserted as verified.
Method: each required element is matched against the words you pasted; the result is presence or absence, not enforceability
Sample values are labelled samples — illustrative by design, not your data and not a quotation of any organisation's policy.

Before: the reader skimmed the deposit clause. After: they can see two schedule items that no permitted deduction covers.