Missing deposit and Deposit Proection Service unresponsive

ElwoodBlues

My friend gave notice, and moved out of his rental property back in August and his ended the AST terminated end of August. He's been trying to recover his deposit ever since. It's with the DPS (or at least it was). I'm not sure if it was in their custodial or insured scheme. At first he couldn't login to their website to reclaim his deposit (never setup/activated his account before). He emailed them several times through their website, but never got a reply. Eventually he managed to get through to them on the phone, and they emailed him a new activation code/password reset. He logged in straight away, and the website says that the account is closed, with the tenant and landlord in agreement that the entire deposit to be paid to the landlord (which it presumably has been). Obviously, the tenant had no involvement in this decision, knew nothing of it, and would never have been in agreement to it. The property was left in reasonable condition when he left (probably wasn't perfect, but nothing more than wear and tear that you'd expect after a 5 year tenancy). I'm sure landlord could have found something to make deductions for, but no way the entire deposit (£900). The tenant has had no contact with the landlord since the landlord acknowledged their notice to vacate (they've ignored his calls and messages ever since). There has been no formal checkout process - just posting the keys back after leaving. So there has certainly been no discussion with the landlord about any deposit deductions.

Something is obviously very messed up here. He's tried to contact DPS numerous times over the last 10 days, but never got to discuss it with anyone - the one time someone actually answered the telephone they said they were too busy and took details to go into a queue for a call back. But they never called back. Appreciate that they are probably working on reduced staff or via homeworking at present, but that doesn't help my friend. My suggestion is that he write to the DPS (recorded delivery), giving them 14 days notice to return his deposit before starting legal proceedings (in the hope that this gets them to wake up and at least respond).

Further - what the hell could have happened here? How could the DPS have got the impression that the tenant was in agreement with the 100% deposit deduction? According to the DPS website, if the tenant doesn't cooperate with the landlord regarding deposit, then after 14 days the landlord can submit a statutory declaration to claim some/all of the deposit. And then the DPS is supposed to spend a further 14 days attempting to contact and engage the (ex) tenant. So the landlord can't get his thieving hands on the deposit without making fraudulent legal claims, and even then the process can't take less than 28 days. It was 26 days after the tenancy end date that the tenant got logged into the DPS website and found the claim settled/agreed, so that doesn't add up either. Only other thing I can think of is that the landlord has somehow masqueraded as the tenant and made the DPS think they're both in agreement, which would be more than a bit naughty.

Any advice or guidance on this matter would be appreciated please.

[Deleted User]

ElwoodBlues said:

My friend gave notice, and moved out of his rental property back in August and his ended the AST terminated end of August. He's been trying to recover his deposit ever since. It's with the DPS (or at least it was). I'm not sure if it was in their custodial or insured scheme. At first he couldn't login to their website to reclaim his deposit (never setup/activated his account before). He emailed them several times through their website, but never got a reply. Eventually he managed to get through to them on the phone, and they emailed him a new activation code/password reset. He logged in straight away, and the website says that the account is closed, with the tenant and landlord in agreement that the entire deposit to be paid to the landlord (which it presumably has been). Obviously, the tenant had no involvement in this decision, knew nothing of it, and would never have been in agreement to it. The property was left in reasonable condition when he left (probably wasn't perfect, but nothing more than wear and tear that you'd expect after a 5 year tenancy). I'm sure landlord could have found something to make deductions for, but no way the entire deposit (£900). The tenant has had no contact with the landlord since the landlord acknowledged their notice to vacate (they've ignored his calls and messages ever since). There has been no formal checkout process - just posting the keys back after leaving. So there has certainly been no discussion with the landlord about any deposit deductions.

Something is obviously very messed up here. He's tried to contact DPS numerous times over the last 10 days, but never got to discuss it with anyone - the one time someone actually answered the telephone they said they were too busy and took details to go into a queue for a call back. But they never called back. Appreciate that they are probably working on reduced staff or via homeworking at present, but that doesn't help my friend. My suggestion is that he write to the DPS (recorded delivery), giving them 14 days notice to return his deposit before starting legal proceedings (in the hope that this gets them to wake up and at least respond).

Further - what the hell could have happened here? How could the DPS have got the impression that the tenant was in agreement with the 100% deposit deduction? According to the DPS website, if the tenant doesn't cooperate with the landlord regarding deposit, then after 14 days the landlord can submit a statutory declaration to claim some/all of the deposit. And then the DPS is supposed to spend a further 14 days attempting to contact and engage the (ex) tenant. So the landlord can't get his thieving hands on the deposit without making fraudulent legal claims, and even then the process can't take less than 28 days. It was 26 days after the tenancy end date that the tenant got logged into the DPS website and found the claim settled/agreed, so that doesn't add up either. Only other thing I can think of is that the landlord has somehow masqueraded as the tenant and made the DPS think they're both in agreement, which would be more than a bit naughty.

Any advice or guidance on this matter would be appreciated please.

DPS no longer has the deposit or is in control of it so I don't think writing to them and requesting the deposit is going to work.  Your friend could put in a Subject Access Request (SAR) though to get all the information DPS hold for him to see if he can work out what happened.  He could also raise a complaint with DPS.

https://www.depositprotection.com/how-we-handle-complaints/

However, the landlord has the money now so if your friend wants it back he will need to send the landlord a letter before action requesting the return of the money and then follow this up with a money claim online (MCOL).  If the SAR from DPS turns anything untoward up then your friend could use that as evidence for his MCOL.

ElwoodBlues

Lover_of_Lycra said:

DPS no longer has the deposit or is in control of it so I don't think writing to them and requesting the deposit is going to work.  Your friend could put in a Subject Access Request (SAR) though to get all the information DPS hold for him to see if he can work out what happened.  He could also raise a complaint with DPS.

https://www.depositprotection.com/how-we-handle-complaints/

However, the landlord has the money now so if your friend wants it back he will need to send the landlord a letter before action requesting the return of the money and then follow this up with a money claim online (MCOL).  If the SAR from DPS turns anything untoward up then your friend could use that as evidence for his MCOL.

Thanks. Surely the DPS has a responsibility to look after the deposit and tenants interests (assuming they were custodians)? If they've returned it to the LL due to his fruadluent actions, DPS should carry the can for sorting it out. Somehow, I suspect it was in the isured scheme, but will try and confirm.

Comms69

ElwoodBlues said:

Lover_of_Lycra said:

DPS no longer has the deposit or is in control of it so I don't think writing to them and requesting the deposit is going to work.  Your friend could put in a Subject Access Request (SAR) though to get all the information DPS hold for him to see if he can work out what happened.  He could also raise a complaint with DPS.

https://www.depositprotection.com/how-we-handle-complaints/

However, the landlord has the money now so if your friend wants it back he will need to send the landlord a letter before action requesting the return of the money and then follow this up with a money claim online (MCOL).  If the SAR from DPS turns anything untoward up then your friend could use that as evidence for his MCOL.

Thanks. Surely the DPS has a responsibility to look after the deposit and tenants interests (assuming they were custodians)? If they've returned it to the LL due to his fruadluent actions, DPS should carry the can for sorting it out. Somehow, I suspect it was in the isured scheme, but will try and confirm.

No, no they dont. The tenant has a responsibility to act in his own best interests. It literally doesnt matter which scheme it was. 

Time for a letter before action, and then court. 

greatcrested

Did the DPS have the correct contact details for the tenant and was th T monitoring that email/address/whatever?

If the LL had made a single access /stat declaration application, and the T did not respond to DPS, then DPS would (rightly) return the deposit to the LL.

Certainly worth a formal complaint to DPS, but as advised above, a LA to the LL as well, followed if necessary by small claims.

The only other aspect might be if the deposit was returned to the LL before the tenancy ended. In that case the LL would be liable or the penalty for non-protection during the tenancy.

ElwoodBlues

Comms69 said:

Thanks. Surely the DPS has a responsibility to look after the deposit and tenants interests (assuming they were custodians)? If they've returned it to the LL due to his fruadluent actions, DPS should carry the can for sorting it out. Somehow, I suspect it was in the isured scheme, but will try and confirm.

No, no they dont. The tenant has a responsibility to act in his own best interests. It literally doesnt matter which scheme it was. 

Time for a letter before action, and then court. 

So the DPS is a huge, pointless waste of time then - if they just give the deposit to the landlord like this without even consulting the tenant? The scheme offers no protection against rogue landlords making unscrupulous deductions. The tenant has been trying to make contact with the DPS for over a month, so I think they've made reasonable attempts to act in their own best interests so far. They obviously want the deposit back (it's a huge amount of money to them), so wouldn't just leave it in there and not chase them. We don't know if the DPS has made a mistake, if the website is presenting the wrong information, or if they have just given the deposit to the LL (as it appears). Kind of need the DPS to engage with the tenant to find out what's gone on.

greatcrested said:

Did the DPS have the correct contact details for the tenant and was th T monitoring that email/address/whatever?

If the LL had made a single access /stat declaration application, and the T did not respond to DPS, then DPS would (rightly) return the deposit to the LL.

Certainly worth a formal complaint to DPS, but as advised above, a LA to the LL as well, followed if necessary by small claims.

The only other aspect might be if the deposit was returned to the LL before the tenancy ended. In that case the LL would be liable or the penalty for non-protection during the tenancy.

The DPS definitely had the tenant's email address on file, and the tenant sent them multiple emails regarding their deposit/account login over the last month.

I don't think the timescales allow for the deposit to have been awarded to the LL by default - should be 14 days before a statutory declaration can be submitted, and then another 14 days for DPS to attempt to contact the tenant themselves. Tenant got access to their DPS account online on day 26 - too soon for the default decision?

BrownTrout

So then take legal action.......

wesleyad

sounds far too fast, I had to do a statutory declaration and it took the dps about 6 weeks to turn it round (plus the initial 2 weeks, plus the time to sort out the declaration), and this was back before covid slowed things even more

Robbo66

The only way this could of happened so quickly is if the landlord has used the insurance backed scheme and not the custodial one. With the Insurance scheme the landlord declares if there are any deductions or not when ending the registration, no tenant input needed, but I would have thought that the tenant would also get a notification of some sort, probably email and this could have gone in to the tenants email junk box. The custodial scheme is a two point access, both landlord and the tenant have to log in and deregister the deposit using individual repayment pins which would have been posted out to the tenant when the deposit was registered.