Time frame for deposit dispute?

Daisies

Hi Everyone,
Adding to my earlier thread about our deposit dispute. On Sunday 18th April we requested the return of our deposit from the Deposit Protection Scheme (the full return of it had already been refused the previous week, following the end of the tenancy on 2nd April).

We've requested:
The sum they've requested for check out expenses + VAT to be deducted
Disputed an amount for cleaning carpets
The rest of the deposit to be returned to us.

Does anyone have any idea if there's a time frame within which the landlord or letting agent has to reply? They're on the 10th working day from our request so far and we haven't heard a thing from them - if we log onto the DPS it just says "awaiting landlord response". We sent the letting agent a letter (put through the door on 19th April) outlining the reasons why we're disputing the need to clean the carpets, but that only concerns a small proportion of the actual deposit they're holding.

ETA I can't find anything on the DPS website about time frames...

lizzielondon

was it in the contract that you were to pay the check out fees?

normally this split i.e. ll pays check in and tenant pays check out- i believe however that if it's not in the contract you do not have to pay these

obv not answering your actual question though sorry

lizzielondon

oooo sorry misread you're not actually disputing them sorry !

cakey

they have 14 days to return your deposit, if they are disputing anything, they must provide receipts for all work done, cleaning etc, this then has to be validated and your deposit returned. all in all they have 14 days to do this, otherwiser you go straight to the people holding your deposit, TDS or whoever

Daisies

Excellent. Well, it's now 16 days since we requested it be returned so we'll get onto the DPS website...

elvis86

Daisies wrote: »

Excellent. Well, it's now 16 days since we requested it be returned so we'll get onto the DPS website...

Be interested to hear how you get on!

Daisies

cakey wrote: »

they have 14 days to return your deposit, if they are disputing anything, they must provide receipts for all work done, cleaning etc, this then has to be validated and your deposit returned. all in all they have 14 days to do this, otherwiser you go straight to the people holding your deposit, TDS or whoever

At the moment our account is saying "The current status of your deposit is IN DISPUTE RESOLUTION - AWAITING LANDLORD EVIDENCE". Does anyone know if this is what happens immediately we applied for a dispute (ie 17 days ago) or if there would have been more of a delay? According to the terms & conditions on the DPS website the landlord has 14 days to submit the evidence, otherwise the deposit is paid straight back to us...

Daisies

Just an update. The majority of the deposit (the undisputed part) is on its way back to us - we got an email and checked the website, although it hasn't arrived in our account yet! The rest is still "IN DISPUTE RESOLUTION - AWAITING LANDLORD EVIDENCE" which I'm going to follow up at the weekend as they must be out of time by now.

Daisies

elvis86 wrote: »

Be interested to hear how you get on!

Right, the OH rang up yesterday to check (status is still "Awaiting landlord evidence"). The 14 days is from when the DPS sent the notification to the landlord so it ends tomorrow. If they don't reply then the money automatically goes to us.

tbs624

Glad that you are now more aware of what is happening. You could however have ascertained all of that by contacting the DPS in the first place, as both you and they have the necessary information on your circumstances.

As a general note for other tenants, a LL *must* return the undisputed amount of your deposit to you whilst sorting out the disputed element. Most of these sorts of queries can be checked with the Schemes - read through the Ts and Cs and then email or phone the Scheme if you don't find the information you are looking for.

Daisies

We returned from honeymoon to find a letter from the DPS saying that the landlord had failed to abide by the terms & conditions (ie they hadn't provided any evidence within the 14 day time frame!) and so the remainder of the deposit is on its way back to us! When we spoke to the DPS at the end of May it wasn't strictly accurate as it's not just 14 days to wait but also time at either end for communications to arrive and be sent out.

So, the system does work, you just have to be patient - it took 5-6 weeks to get the undisputed part of the deposit back and just over 2 months for the rest to be returned to us.