The UK is pretty bad for tenants rights but they do force landlords to putting deposits into special accounts that have legal protections for the tenant, and if said landlord tries to avoid it you can usually easily win back a multiple value of your deposit with little the landlord can do.

Landlords regularly take the piss with claiming exorbitant amounts for “damages” which is harder to contest, and many of us just accept a few deductions even knowing they will just pocket it.

normally in brazil you have three alternatives:

• find someone who sponsors you: increasingly in disuse, since your sponsor needs to have property paid in full within municipality’s limits, metro regions or in neighbouring cities, and a monthly income that is at least 3 times the rent and other associated expenses;
• pay an insurance: generally it amounts for an increase of 10-25% on top of your rent. however, by the end of the contract you won’t have it back;
• traditional deposit: most tenants and real estate agents will charge you three rents in advance, since normally contracts have a standard 30-month length. after an year elapses and you decide to leave, you will receive your deposit in full with the inflation that incurred during that time. if you decide to leave before that year, you will have to pay a penalty of your rent multiplied by the number of months that are left in your contract divided by 10 (e.g. if you leave with about 24 months left, the penalty will be rent * 2.4). this penalty is usually waivered after 12 months. however, if you didn’t really trashed out your former house, they will charge you painting and cleaning expenses (sometimes even if you paint and clean yourself, depending on how much son-of-a-b*tch they are).

Why more? Why add an extra layers, more complexity? Why not just ban deposits? The rental contract already covers damages caused by tenants. And it’s not like you pay a €2000 deposit, cause €10.000 worth of damage and not have to pay the additional €8000.

Maybe in the past, with cash payments and paper records. Deposits added a layer or security. But does that still hold true today? I’m sure landlords will disagree.

If the landlord believes the tenant left the property in a damaged state, they can enforce the contract. Upside is that it’s not worth it to sue for trivial shit like nail holes or greasy stove vacuums. Now the tenants are always on the backfoot, spending money to get their own money back.