The deposit myth: most tenants never get it back
The rental deposit is sold as protection and savings. Data on 68,000+ move-outs says it's a consumed fee, paid upfront as a barrier.
The rental deposit is sold two ways at once. To tenants it is savings, their own money held safely until they leave. To landlords it is protection. Our move-out data says it is usually neither.
What the move-out data shows
Across 68,401 deposit move-outs on the books we work with, 46% of tenants left owing money. That is the balance at move-out, before a cent of damages or cleaning was deducted. Once those are applied, the share who see nothing back is higher again. On our fuller reconciliation, roughly two in three deposit tenants are refunded nothing at all.
A deposit you mostly don't get back isn't savings. It's a deferred fee, paid upfront as a barrier.
The affordability trap
That upfront lump is the problem. Deposit, first month's rent and moving costs all fall due at once, precisely when a tenant has the least cash. What filters people out is the move-in bill, not the monthly rent. Many bridge it with short-term credit, which quietly adds interest to a "refundable" amount they'll mostly never see. Count the cash tied up or borrowed over a typical stay and a one-month deposit costs around 6.6% of rent, hidden and largely non-returned. What the deposit costs the landlord is a separate bill.
A fee, priced like one
The waiver is the same idea made honest. Instead of a large refundable-in-theory lump, the tenant pays a small monthly fee of around 5% of rent, with no upfront barrier. In exchange the landlord gets cover three to five times deeper than a one-month deposit, and on a clean exit the tenant earns part of that fee back through rewards. The tenant keeps their move-in cash; the landlord gets better protection. The only thing that disappears is the fiction that the deposit was ever coming back.
Figures: the 46% move-out arrears rate is computed directly across 68,401 deposit move-outs in the lease data. The ~2-in-3 not-refunded figure and the 6.6%-of-rent cost are from LeaseSurance's deposit-behaviour analysis. Illustrative rand figures assume a R5,000 monthly rent.