Deposit held until bills are paid

PasturesNew

Cognito wrote: »

The landlord wants to keep £200 off the deposit for "professional cleaning"

That is four full days' work for a cleaner. You'd be able to save a lot of that by finding your own professional cleaner to go in and pay them direct. Many firms do a "one off" service.

Werdnal

But if there is no return of the amount, then there is a dispute. The amount you want back has not been paid, so you are disputing it!!!!!!!!! Definition of dispute: argument, debate, disagreement, get it?

The deposit services do not get into tit-for-tat arguments about whether deposit should be returned or not. If you haven't got it back, and you have exhausted all routes you have to retrieve it, ie called/spoken/written etc to landlord and agent, the only way the deposit service can help is to raise a dispute and allow them to deal with it. Otherwise your deposit will sit there gathering dust until you pull your finger out and help yourself!

Of course, you can go to court or launch a money claim for the amount you want returned, but if the TDS have it, then maybe using them would be your first option!

You seem to have been given loads of info, and advice on where to go, but still come back here wanting more. As I said, short of coming around and holding your hand whilst you fill out the dispute application, what other advice are you expecting to receive here? You sound like you are in the right to get the money back, but only you can process the application, or moneyclaim, or take them to court. What are you expecting us to do?

Cognito

for anyone who may want to help, my situation and question is this:

they haven't returned the deposit, and they're not replying to me...

shall I file a dipute with TDS? can they actually give me my deposit back, or will they just say I "should" get it back, leaving the landlord perfectly able to ignore this too?

shall I just file a lawsuit?

is there point in sending them a "letter before action"?

thanks

Werdnal

Cognito wrote: »

for anyone who may want to help, my situation and question is this:

they haven't returned the deposit, and they're not replying to me...

shall I file a dipute with TDS? can they actually give me my deposit back, or will they just say I "should" get it back, leaving the landlord perfectly able to ignore this too?

shall I just file a lawsuit?

is there point in sending them a "letter before action"?

thanks

Are you actually reading any replies and advice given? Give me strength ......:mad:

Cognito

dotdash79 wrote: »

Why don't you use the single claim process, this means that if the landlord fails to respond in x amount of time then you get the payment be default.

is this preferable to filing a dispute with the TDS? and if so, how do I go about it? lawyer?

Cognito

PasturesNew wrote: »

That is four full days' work for a cleaner. You'd be able to save a lot of that by finding your own professional cleaner to go in and pay them direct. Many firms do a "one off" service.

I know, but I want to keep this thread on topic, please. plus, they're not replying to my messages about the deposit, you reckon they'll suddenly pick up the phone if I offered to make sure they don't keep any of it?

Cognito

Werdnal wrote: »

But if there is no return of the amount, then there is a dispute. The amount you want back has not been paid, so you are disputing it!!!!!!!!! Definition of dispute: argument, debate, disagreement, get it?

The deposit services do not get into tit-for-tat arguments about whether deposit should be returned or not. If you haven't got it back, and you have exhausted all routes you have to retrieve it, ie called/spoken/written etc to landlord and agent, the only way the deposit service can help is to raise a dispute and allow them to deal with it. Otherwise your deposit will sit there gathering dust until you pull your finger out and help yourself!

Of course, you can go to court or launch a money claim for the amount you want returned, but if the TDS have it, then maybe using them would be your first option!

You seem to have been given loads of info, and advice on where to go, but still come back here wanting more. As I said, short of coming around and holding your hand whilst you fill out the dispute application, what other advice are you expecting to receive here? You sound like you are in the right to get the money back, but only you can process the application, or moneyclaim, or take them to court. What are you expecting us to do?

as I already said, can you simply tell me if it's worth filing the dispute with the TDS? or can the landlord still ignore their adjudication, leaving me to have to go to court anyway?

Cognito

Cognito wrote: »

for anyone who may want to help, my situation and question is this:

they haven't returned the deposit, and they're not replying to me...

shall I file a dipute with TDS? can they actually give me my deposit back, or will they just say I "should" get it back, leaving the landlord perfectly able to ignore this too?

shall I just file a lawsuit?

is there point in sending them a "letter before action"?

thanks

Werdnal wrote: »

Are you actually reading any replies and advice given? Give me strength ......:mad:

can you please point me to where exactly any of these questions have been answered?

tbs624

Cognito wrote: »

well, if you read a bit above, they haven't actually offered any guidance whatsoever. they just said "file a dsipute and we will adjudicate, or take it to court"... which is why I'm posting here.

That *is* guidance - those are your options if you want to get your deposit paid back.

You answered "yes" to my query

tbs624 wrote: »

Have you, or have you not, looked at the website guidance on how the scheme works in general, and how disputes in particular are dealt with?

and yet you ask "how do I go about it" when another poster points you to the single claims process. The website explains this process - are you skim reading?

TDS operates as an insurance backed scheme- LL cannot just do as s/he thinks fit over the tenancy deposit. If one party does not want to use the adjudication set-up then hi ho, hi ho it's off to court you go.

Cognito

that's what I feared. thanks for the clarification, though. honest