Have any landlords had to go through dispute resolution regarding a tenants deposit?

TripleH

Agree, stick to facts.

Did the tenants see the check in inventory and can you evidence that (signature etc?).

I think they look at facts and evidence as presented and its assumed the landlord will know their responsibility better than the tenants hence the presented bias to tenants.

Bendy_House

hazyjo said:

Gettingtherequickly said:

Thanks for your comments. I am going to send over the check in & check out reports, the copious amounts of photos, including before & after photos taken by the cleaning company and the emails relevant to the work we did during their tenancy, which also shows their bullying attitude towards getting their own way.

Is that work relevant? As above, keep it factual, simple, and take the emotion out of it.

Based on what Falafels says, if you can demonstrate that you have been fair and reasonable throughout, keen to have repair work carried out as a responsible LL for example, whilst the tenant has, conversely, been hampering these attempts, then - provided it is kept unemotive, succinct, and factual - it could help to paint a picture?

Gettingtherequickly

Thanks everyone.  We have a signed check in report but as they chose to go on holidays the day before the checkout, that is obviously unsigned, but the comparisons are very obvious.  

We have been reasonable throughout in wanting to deal with any problems, were only made aware of 2 throughout the 3 years they were there, but everything had to be done on their terms, even allowing access for the GSC & EPC to be carried out.  I appreciate that some times may not be convenient for tenants, but at the same time compromise is necessary at times.

martindow

Gettingtherequickly said:

Thanks everyone.  We have a signed check in report but as they chose to go on holidays the day before the checkout, that is obviously unsigned, but the comparisons are very obvious.  

We have been reasonable throughout in wanting to deal with any problems, were only made aware of 2 throughout the 3 years they were there, but everything had to be done on their terms, even allowing access for the GSC & EPC to be carried out.  I appreciate that some times may not be convenient for tenants, but at the same time compromise is necessary at times.

I agree with others that the historic issues with getting access for GSC etc are not really relevant.  Keep it concise and to the point - evidence of cleaning required and costs to remedy damage, taking account of betterment, are the main things.

Discussions regarding the attitudes of T or LL cloud the issue and are not relevant as far as the court is concerned.  It is important to try to keep emotion out of it and stick to financial matters.

TripleH

Having a signed check-in report is useful.

When we left our rental property, the agents claimed damage to units which 'our cats had chewed' against their check-in report.

We won because we never received a check-in report (several items were broken when we moved in that we had to report that a check-in report would have covered) and hence had no chance to query the contents. Also I've never known a cat to chew a kitchen unit.

Gettingtherequickly

Well, we received an email from the DPS confirming that we will be receiving the full deposit, I am guessing the tenants are apoplectic about the decision, but they have only themselves to blame. My instinct is that we have not heard the last of it, so am expecting a small claims application from them, (they left “damaged” wardrobes in the property), I will deal with that if it happens. Hopefully they will see sense and take it as a lesson learnt, because as it stands, we will not issue a claim for the balance of the damage caused, that will change if they issue a claim against us.

However, as we have not been in this situation before, will we get anything to let us know how the DPS ruled in our favour? Just being curious as to how they reached their decision, albeit being an obvious one.

macman

I'm baffled that you see retention of the deposit as some kind of victory, when you say that the costs of repairing the damage done is 3 to 4 times the deposit value. All it is is damage limitation. Why you don't proceed immediately to small claims is hard to understand. You may never recover any award, but based on your victory with the DPS, it's hard to see you losing, and they would then have a CCJ to contend with.
What exactly would be the basis of any claim by them?

Gettingtherequickly

macman said:

I'm baffled that you see retention of the deposit as some kind of victory, when you say that the costs of repairing the damage done is 3 to 4 times the deposit value. All it is is damage limitation. Why you don't proceed immediately to small claims is hard to understand. You may never recover any award, but based on your victory with the DPS, it's hard to see you losing, and they would then have a CCJ to contend with.
What exactly would be the basis of any claim by them?

I agree with your point about damage limitation, but as we have no forwarding address to issue the small claims, we are slightly stuck. This is the first time that we have ever had damages exceeding the deposit, so just grateful that we have been lucky so far.

Regarding their possible claim against us, one of their complaints against us was a mould issue, which damaged their wardrobes. However, we dealt with the mould which was actually caused by lack of ventilation, and despite us, their tenancy agreement & checkin report advising that the rooms needed to be ventilated, they ignored this advice. As they had left the wardrobes on vacating, I asked if they were going to arrange for them to be removed. They said no, as they were damaged due to our negligence.

macman

Their complaints about mould and 'wardrobe negligence' are trivial, and would be laughed out of court given the scale of the damage you are alleging, and can presumably prove. Encourage them to claim, as that'll give you a forwarding address to counter -claim.
If not, just employ a tracing agent. You are facing a loss of presumably at least £3,000, plus loss of rental income while you renovate the property. You are being far too defeatist about this.

anselld

Gettingtherequickly said:

macman said:

I'm baffled that you see retention of the deposit as some kind of victory, when you say that the costs of repairing the damage done is 3 to 4 times the deposit value. All it is is damage limitation. Why you don't proceed immediately to small claims is hard to understand. You may never recover any award, but based on your victory with the DPS, it's hard to see you losing, and they would then have a CCJ to contend with.
What exactly would be the basis of any claim by them?

I agree with your point about damage limitation, but as we have no forwarding address to issue the small claims, we are slightly stuck. 

There is no rush.  You have six years to claim,  Let them settle in their new location for a few months then a tracing agent will have the best chance to find them.  Fees less than £50.