DPS complaint

sprite1508

Hi I'm hoping for some advice.
my son moved out of a property mid November, the landlord (LL) ignored all requests to pay the bond back, after a while we initiated a single claim via the DPS. The LL again failed to respond within the allocated time therefore the DPS paid the bond back less a small amount for a carpet clean, which my son was honest bout and deducted it himself,

I have now received this..... where do we stand legally aruing my case that the LL in telling porkies ? thanks in advance


I write to you with reference to the above deposit for which, the disputed sum of £345.00 was recently repaid to you.

The disputed amount was repaid to you as the managing agent failed to respond within 14 days of the Statutory Declaration Notice (SDN) issued to them, however, due to an administrative error this was not the case and a response to the SDN was received from the agent within the 14 day deadline.

As the funds were released to you due to an admin error, we are not requesting that these funds are returned to us. We would, however, request that you submit evidence in support of your claim in order that a fair decision is reached by the adjudicator.

Where possible we would ask that any evidence you have, is submitted to us by 03 June 2016.

The following response was received from the agent in response to the Statutory Declaration Notice issued;

“Damage

Damage to front door – quotation £399, landlord is happy to pay half towards so requests £199.50

Damage to d!cor £90.00

Carpet and oven clean £40.00

Rubbish removal £8.00 Total invoice £138.00



Carpet replacement after cleaning as wouldn’t clean. Invoice £286.00 Landlord is happy to take £100.00 for this on the tenants contribution.


Damage to front door £199.50

D!cor, clean and rubbish removal £138

Damage to carpet £100

Total £437.50”


Should you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact this office or refer to the “help” section of our website, https://www.depositprotectionservice.com/help.

TO ADD, I did have photographs of the entire property including inside the oven, however since the deposit was returned and as we thought the LL had yet again ignored all correspondence I deleted these from my phone. How can I prove the LL in not telling the truth.
The house was reoccupied within a week, I know this as I called in for post, the carpet is the same and no change to door?!?
would he have to provide proof that this damage was done by my son??
how do we prove he didn't damage anything?

Pixie5740

Did your son ever provide a check-in and a check-out inventory?

Is it possible that although the photos are I longer in your phone that they might be on a computer or floating around on the cloud somewhere?

Miss_Samantha

Just ignore that letter.

sprite1508

Hi, no iv searched icloud, my pc and my deleted history, my phone automatically deletes the deleted after 30 days. I'm so annoyed as they would have backed us up.

The estate agent did an check and I assume inventory once he`d moved out, hence why they suggested the deduction for the carpet, which we agreed,

thanks

[Deleted User]

Ignore the letter. I'm sure the LL/agent would if it was the other way round.

Pixie5740

Ignore the letter then. Your son doesn't want to open up a can of worms and it sounds as though the landlord is at it a bit anyway.

Nobbie1967

I wouldn't ignore the letter as it's from the adjudicator and if you fail to respond they will enter judgement in the LLs favour. The LL will then be able to use this to pursue a claim through the courts. Refute the damage that you haven't caused and see if the LL has before and after photos to prove otherwise.

Miss_Samantha

Nobbie1967 wrote: »

I wouldn't ignore the letter as it's from the adjudicator and if you fail to respond they will enter judgement in the LLs favour.

The tenant needs to consent to adjudication...

dimbo61

Stop worrying about your old photos it is up to the Landlord to prove that your son has caused the damage in the first place.
So they need dated photos of the door before and after your son lived there.
We use a video inventory firm and it comes to about 40/50 pages that the tenants have to sign.
Speak to DPS but wait till they take your son to court if they bother.

Guest101

Just not sure why the DPS complaint? Are you saying that mistakes don't happen?

benjus

Sounds to me like the DPS are feeling very sheepish about their mistake and are trying to appease the landlord by getting your son to play along. They probably would like him to submit some convincing evidence to back up their decision to repay the £345.

If they decide (whether or not he responds to this letter) that the LL should have retained more of the deposit, I'm not sure what would happen. They could (a) accept that they "lost" the deposit and repay the LL from their own funds, then chase your son for the amount, (b) same as (a) but they don't bother chasing your son for the amount, or (c) tell the LL to chase your son directly if he/she wants the money.

In any case, they don't have the authority to force your son to repay the amount they have already returned to him - they would have to take him to court for that.