DPS account suspended..what now?

julia26_2

I'm having some problems with my ex-landlord, we had lived in our last property since June 2007 and moved out May 2010, we only moved out because the gas stopped working, when I called the landlord to tell him on the Thursday evening, he said its bank holiday weekend there nothing I can do, when we finally got British gas out on the wed, it came to light that our landlord hadn't had the gas checked since we moved in, and Carbon Monoxide had been leaking into our loft for sometime, and the boiler was condemed. The landlord did agree to fix this, but it involved a full new heating system and boiler that he wanted to put into the spare room, we decided to leave rather than deall with the upheaval.
I send 3 letters to our landlord requesting they contact us to discuss the deposit, and received no response, I then receive a letter from the DPS, advising they are trying to keep our full deopsit, so we queried it, as we'd left some rubbish at the property I agreed they could have £100 but the rest should be returned to us!
I've now received a letter from the DPS saying our ex-landlord does not consent for them to resolve disputes so our account is suspended, where do I go from here?
Thanks in advance.

Fire_Fox

You will need to take the landlord to the small claims court I think, not very expensive but you will need to put some evidence together. Have you received any written explanation of why your entire deposit is being withheld? Was there a dual signed check in inventory? Did you attend or offer to attend check out? Why did you leave rubbish, you do understand this can be charged at commercial rates? Did you move out having served the proper one months notice to quit?

julia26_2

We have had no contact from our ex-landlord, they don't answer our call or letters. They are claiming that we damaged the property, the property was left in better condition than when we moved in, as we had repainted all the walls, and left new blinds as the others had gone mouldy. The ex-landlord just requested that I post they keys to them, and they would contact me on reciept to discuss the deposit.
Yes I understand that, that is why I offered £100 of the deposit to cover any costs incured. And yes I gave my proper one months notice.
I just feel so upset by all this, we lived our final month without heat or water, and also found that due to them not having the gas certificates we had been living with a potentioally boiler, I would never have even left the property if none of this had happened, we were near our friends and family.
Thanks for your advice x