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Appealing a DPS decision
BigHug
Posts: 6 Forumite
Hi,
I recently went through a DPS dispute resolution, and I was unhappy with the way that it was carried out. However, I think my opinions for appealing it are limited, because it seems that they only accept appeals where there has been a "mistake of law".
The main reasons that I am unhappy with the way the dispute resolution was carried out are:
1) I submitted photos which were dated by having a copy of a newspaper in the shot, a paper that was published on the day I moved out. The landlord submitted photos that (apparently) have a timestamp of the next day, but nothing in the shot to indicate date. My photos show no damage and his show damage. The adjudicator seems to have gone with his photos, with no mention of why mine were apparently discounted.
2) In the contract, where it says that there must be a service address in the UK, the service address is actually a foreign PO box. I suggested that this makes the contract invalid, but the adjudicator made no mention of this in the decision.
3) The landlord previously sent me very high quotes, claimed that he had paid that price, and then asked me to deduct it from the deposit. However, when he made the actual claim to the DPS, he submitted completely different invoices of much lower value. It was my submission that this showed dishonesty on his behalf, and should call his evidence into question. The adjudicator made no reference to this in the decision.
4) Some of my possessions were left behind my mistake. The landlord had these thrown away and charged me for this. I made a submission saying that the landlord had a duty of care in law with regards to my possessions and should have attempted to contact me to have them picked up, so he should be liable for the cost of them. The adjudicator made no mention of this in the decision and just awarded him the cost of disposing of them.
5) The check-in inventory was never signed by the landlord or letting agent, and no 3rd party inventory clerk was used for check in or check out. I raised this and suggested that it made the inventory unreliable, but the adjudicator made no mention of it in the decision.
I think that the DPS would perhaps dismiss some of these concerns, but the issue of the service address on the contract and perhaps the duty of care with regards to the possessions could, I think, fall within the mistakes of law (although they are not actually dismissed, just not mentioned).
I wonder if anybody here has any opinions on whether I have grounds for appeal to the DPS.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I recently went through a DPS dispute resolution, and I was unhappy with the way that it was carried out. However, I think my opinions for appealing it are limited, because it seems that they only accept appeals where there has been a "mistake of law".
The main reasons that I am unhappy with the way the dispute resolution was carried out are:
1) I submitted photos which were dated by having a copy of a newspaper in the shot, a paper that was published on the day I moved out. The landlord submitted photos that (apparently) have a timestamp of the next day, but nothing in the shot to indicate date. My photos show no damage and his show damage. The adjudicator seems to have gone with his photos, with no mention of why mine were apparently discounted.
2) In the contract, where it says that there must be a service address in the UK, the service address is actually a foreign PO box. I suggested that this makes the contract invalid, but the adjudicator made no mention of this in the decision.
3) The landlord previously sent me very high quotes, claimed that he had paid that price, and then asked me to deduct it from the deposit. However, when he made the actual claim to the DPS, he submitted completely different invoices of much lower value. It was my submission that this showed dishonesty on his behalf, and should call his evidence into question. The adjudicator made no reference to this in the decision.
4) Some of my possessions were left behind my mistake. The landlord had these thrown away and charged me for this. I made a submission saying that the landlord had a duty of care in law with regards to my possessions and should have attempted to contact me to have them picked up, so he should be liable for the cost of them. The adjudicator made no mention of this in the decision and just awarded him the cost of disposing of them.
5) The check-in inventory was never signed by the landlord or letting agent, and no 3rd party inventory clerk was used for check in or check out. I raised this and suggested that it made the inventory unreliable, but the adjudicator made no mention of it in the decision.
I think that the DPS would perhaps dismiss some of these concerns, but the issue of the service address on the contract and perhaps the duty of care with regards to the possessions could, I think, fall within the mistakes of law (although they are not actually dismissed, just not mentioned).
I wonder if anybody here has any opinions on whether I have grounds for appeal to the DPS.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
0
Comments
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When you agree to arbitration with the deposit scheme you are agreeing to accept their decision.
However, if you really believe their decision is biased there is nothing to stop you suing in the county court. At this stage only a judge can throw out the arbitrator's decision.
You would certainly have to pay your own expenses and most likely those of the landlord as well if you lose.0 -
2) In the contract, where it says that there must be a service address in the UK, the service address is actually a foreign PO box. I suggested that this makes the contract invalid, but the adjudicator made no mention of this in the decision.
It does not make the contract invalid.3) The landlord previously sent me very high quotes, claimed that he had paid that price, and then asked me to deduct it from the deposit. However, when he made the actual claim to the DPS, he submitted completely different invoices of much lower value. It was my submission that this showed dishonesty on his behalf, and should call his evidence into question. The adjudicator made no reference to this in the decision.
Lower quotes are to your advantage, aren't they?4) Some of my possessions were left behind my mistake. The landlord had these thrown away and charged me for this. I made a submission saying that the landlord had a duty of care in law with regards to my possessions and should have attempted to contact me to have them picked up, so he should be liable for the cost of them. The adjudicator made no mention of this in the decision and just awarded him the cost of disposing of them.
You should be liable for the cost of disposing of the items. But indeed LL add a duty of care and should have contacted you, and give you reasonable time to pick them up.
That said, LL was also entitled to charge you for the cost of storing these items.5) The check-in inventory was never signed by the landlord or letting agent, and no 3rd party inventory clerk was used for check in or check out. I raised this and suggested that it made the inventory unreliable, but the adjudicator made no mention of it in the decision.
The question is rather whether you signed or agreed to the check in inventory.0 -
jjlandlord wrote: »It does not make the contract invalid.
What effect does it have legally? Certainly rent is not payable without a UK service address, so it can't be that the contract is 100% valid.jjlandlord wrote: »Lower quotes are to your advantage, aren't they?
The point being that he sent me quotes, when the work had been already done, claiming that he had paid that money, and asking me to agree to deduct it from the deposit.
When he submitted the claim to the DPS, he provided the actual invoices that he had paid, which were much lower.
It would seem to me that it was clearly dishonest, and that should have cast light on his other claims.jjlandlord wrote: »You should be liable for the cost of disposing of the items. But indeed LL add a duty of care and should have contacted you, and give you reasonable time to pick them up.
That said, LL was also entitled to charge you for the cost of storing these items.
I see. So is that perhaps grounds upon which I could appeal?
It is my understanding that I agreed to be bound to the decision, but that they will accept appeals if the adjudicator has made an "error of law".0 -
When you agree to arbitration with the deposit scheme you are agreeing to accept their decision.
However, if you really believe their decision is biased there is nothing to stop you suing in the county court. At this stage only a judge can throw out the arbitrator's decision.
You would certainly have to pay your own expenses and most likely those of the landlord as well if you lose.
Yes. I regret it, because I am unhappy that they don't seem to have weighed my evidence, or at least they make no mention of the points I have made.
The whole process is pretty poor, IMHO. You can get access to the initial claims and evidence that the landlord provides (although it takes a long time to get it, and gives you little time to respond), but then they went back to the landlord for further "evidence" which I never had a chance to see or rebut.
On top of that, I believe I made several valid points, and none of them were addressed in the decision. That is what really makes me more unhappy, rather than the decision itself (the landlord was claiming £3,000, even though the deposit was £1,500, and was finally award £300 - he had made up all kinds of stuff, that not even the adjudicator fell for).
The problem with the county court is that the landlord is abroad (hence the foreign PO box as the service address). So I really have no service address, and therefore no way to chase the landlord on this. I suppose that is why rent isn't payable until a UK address is provided, and I should probably have pushed that at the time.
I do believe that the DPS will accept appeals, but only if for claims suggesting that there was a mistake of law.0 -
It seems that key points were not discussed by the arbitrator. I am afraid that that is in the nature of arbitration, though, a quick and cheerful resolution of the issues that does not cost very much. I am afraid that that is it, though. Move on. You could only challenge it in court on procedural errors, eg if you weren't heard, but there is nothing in your post to suggest that that happened. That is not to say that you were given the right result, but there is nothing you can do about it. If I understand correctly, you got all but £300 of your deposit back?No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?0
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It seems that key points were not discussed by the arbitrator. I am afraid that that is in the nature of arbitration, though, a quick and cheerful resolution of the issues that does not cost very much. I am afraid that that is it, though. Move on. You could only challenge it in court on procedural errors, eg if you weren't heard, but there is nothing in your post to suggest that that happened. That is not to say that you were given the right result, but there is nothing you can do about it. If I understand correctly, you got all but £300 of your deposit back?
Yes, I'm sure you're right. I had read about the "error of law" clause, but the more I read the more I think that the DPS don't accept appeals on that basis, rather that the parties are just saying that they don't agree to be bound if there is an error of law, which opens up the possibility for court action.
It seems you don't have to search too far to find people making similar claims about evidence not being mentioned.
I suppose, as you say, the process is very quick and dirty. If they spent any real time looking at the claims, they'd not make a profit.
I suppose it's better than nothing. After all, in its absence, the landlord would no doubt have kept the lot, and I would have only had a foreign PO box on which to serve court papers.
It made me laugh in the decision, that the arbitrator states that they are qualified to arbitrate because they hold an LLB (Hons).
I hold an LLB (Hons) too, so I suppose I am qualified to arbitrate too, even though I have forgotten 90% of what I was taught!
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Yes, I'm sure you're right. I had read about the "error of law" clause, but the more I read the more I think that the DPS don't accept appeals on that basis, rather that the parties are just saying that they don't agree to be bound if there is an error of law, which opens up the possibility for court action.
It seems you don't have to search too far to find people making similar claims about evidence not being mentioned.
I suppose, as you say, the process is very quick and dirty. If they spent any real time looking at the claims, they'd not make a profit.
I suppose it's better than nothing. After all, in its absence, the landlord would no doubt have kept the lot, and I would have only had a foreign PO box on which to serve court papers.
It made me laugh in the decision, that the arbitrator states that they are qualified to arbitrate because they hold an LLB (Hons).
I hold an LLB (Hons) too, so I suppose I am qualified to arbitrate too, even though I have forgotten 90% of what I was taught!
I don't see why an LLB would be a great qualification for this sort of arbitration. A surveying qualification would be more useful.
By the way, what did you do with your LLB, if you didn't go into the law?No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?0 -
What effect does it have legally? Certainly rent is not payable without a UK service address, so it can't be that the contract is 100% valid.
Imo, the only effect is that no rent is due. The contract is still valid.
And in any case, I'd think this is irrelevant to the dispute.When he submitted the claim to the DPS, he provided the actual invoices that he had paid, which were much lower.
The DPS will use the elements submitted and disregard things you allege the LL might have done before.
In this case he provided correct receipts, so all is fine.I see. So is that perhaps grounds upon which I could appeal?
I don't know. And I don't know if that'd be worthwhile in any case.0 -
jjlandlord wrote: »The DPS will use the elements submitted and disregard things you allege the LL might have done before.
In this case he provided correct receipts, so all is fine.
Ah yes, although I did submit the email in which he claimed the amounts. Also, the landlord also submitted the same email, as proof that he had contacted me. I don't know if he considered the fact that the email also included his claims for vastly inflated amounts, certainly it seems that the adjudicator didn't.0 -
I don't see why an LLB would be a great qualification for this sort of arbitration. A surveying qualification would be more useful.
By the way, what did you do with your LLB, if you didn't go into the law?
I actually didn't do anything with it. I went into a completely different career instead.
Long story, but I didn't know what I wanted to do at the time, so did law, and still didn't know a couple of years later, so just finished the degree.
Given that I had the degree, I considered doing the LPC, but it seemed pointless as I just couldn't see myself working in the legal profession.0
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