Landlord demanding deposit after Deposit Scheme have returned it to me

AnnBoo

Hi all
I'd really like some advice on this if possible!
The situation is that I left my rental house a couple of months ago. I applied for the return of the deposit via the deposit protection scheme. The landlord didn't engage with this process at all, to the point I had to put in a statutory declaration. Again, no response from him, and the DPS notified me that they would now return the deposit.
On the same day, I had an email from the landlord saying I had 'prematurely claimed back the deposit', with a list of things wrong with the house and attached invoices, for things like replacing the ensuite shower (a leak in the pipe that had, according to the plumber, been leaking for years), fixing the fences and gate (they were in no worse state than when I started renting the property), painting the whole property - now in one room the paint was damaged as my son had used tape on the walls - I expected a deduction for this and would have paid it. I took videos of the property when I left it, but I dont have any of it when I moved in. 
Today I have had another email, threatening legal action to recover the deposit and the 'loss of rent for 3 months', as they have had to do work to repair the house before renting it out again, as well as his legal costs. 
I guess I'm asking two things - 
Is he likely to get anywhere with this in the claims courts, given that he didn't engage with the deposit protection scheme?
Is the onus on him to demonstrate that the repairs needed were due to damage I caused (which I would absolutely refute)
thanks in advance for any advice!

Herzlos

He had the chance to deal with it using the scheme and didn't, so the scheme decided the deposit was to go back to you.

Should be actually take you to small claims court he's got no real prospect of success.

Just ignore him; the more you reply the more he'll keep annoying you to cave in. Maybe a single response along the lines of "The DPS abritration found in favour of myself, so I will not be returning any deposit or engaging further outside of official court paperwork".

RAS

The onus is on him to produce evidence of the damage. He cannot expect you to pay for fair wear and tear, or for a full refurbishment. The one bedroom might be justified but he had the opportunity to do that via the scheme.

Did he ever provide a full property inspection when you moved in? Ideally signed by both of you?

anselld

He can go to Court and the onus remains on him to prove damage beyond wear and tear.  The fact that he did not engage with the DPS arbitration does not necessarily count against him as neither party are obliged to use the DPS for dispute resolution.

tacpot12

I would suggest that you do offer to pay for the damage that you know you are responsible for. If the landlord hasn't yet told you how much the repainting cost, you might have to ask him, but you should only have to pay 1/nth cost of redecorating, where N is the number of rooms in the property. Apart from that, I would got with Herzlos' suggestion of a short reply saying that you will not pay for more than you are responsible for. 

FlorayG

He can't demand the deposit back now, that train has left the station and that's his own fault.
He can take you to small claims court for cost of repairs but, as others have said, he would have to prove the damage was your fault (and it appears you have a witness that the shower at least was already damage when you moved in). Also he would have to explain to small claims why he didn't require it from your deposit in the first place. The worst he can do to you now is not give you a good reference for a future rental

FlorayG

Herzlos said:

He had the chance to deal with it using the scheme and didn't, so the scheme decided the deposit was to go back to you.

Should be actually take you to small claims court he's got no real prospect of success.

Just ignore him; the more you reply the more he'll keep annoying you to cave in. Maybe a single response along the lines of "The DPS abritration found in favour of myself, so I will not be returning any deposit or engaging further outside of official court paperwork".

No. They didn't arbitrate because there was nothing to arbitrate. The actual wording should be ' You made no application to the deposit scheme for a deduction so they refunded it all to me as required'

AnnBoo

RAS said:

The onus is on him to produce evidence of the damage. He cannot expect you to pay for fair wear and tear, or for a full refurbishment. The one bedroom might be justified but he had the opportunity to do that via the scheme.

Did he ever provide a full property inspection when you moved in? Ideally signed by both of you?

RAS, no, it was set up by an estate agent, but no property inspection and definitely not signed. Helpful to know the onus is on him to produce the evidence 

Myci85

If no inventory was present/signed at start of tenancy he will have a very difficult time proving any damage was your fault. He probably knows this too, hence not using the DPS arbitration - he likely realised they'd find in your favour, and instead is hoping you will be intimidated into paying with the threat of court. I would ignore all future communication unless you receive court documents. 

KittenChops

AnnBoo said:

Hi all
I'd really like some advice on this if possible!
The situation is that I left my rental house a couple of months ago. I applied for the return of the deposit via the deposit protection scheme. The landlord didn't engage with this process at all, to the point I had to put in a statutory declaration. Again, no response from him, and the DPS notified me that they would now return the deposit.
On the same day, I had an email from the landlord saying I had 'prematurely claimed back the deposit', with a list of things wrong with the house and attached invoices, for things like replacing the ensuite shower (a leak in the pipe that had, according to the plumber, been leaking for years), fixing the fences and gate (they were in no worse state than when I started renting the property), painting the whole property - now in one room the paint was damaged as my son had used tape on the walls - I expected a deduction for this and would have paid it. I took videos of the property when I left it, but I dont have any of it when I moved in. 
Today I have had another email, threatening legal action to recover the deposit and the 'loss of rent for 3 months', as they have had to do work to repair the house before renting it out again, as well as his legal costs. 
I guess I'm asking two things - 
Is he likely to get anywhere with this in the claims courts, given that he didn't engage with the deposit protection scheme?
Is the onus on him to demonstrate that the repairs needed were due to damage I caused (which I would absolutely refute)
thanks in advance for any advice!

Re the bit I've bolded above - your ex landlord is taking the proverbial with that.
I know a landlord who let a 2 bed property on a 12 month AST - the tenants moved out at the end of the fixed term this summer, leaving a huge amount of damage.  All of the carpet & underlay downstairs had to be replaced, the garden was under several foot of weeds, they'd broken the oven door, damaged the hob, damaged internal doors - the list goes on.  Everything was repaired or replaced & it had a new tenant in within 6 weeks.

AnnBoo

KittenChops said:

AnnBoo said:

Hi all
I'd really like some advice on this if possible!
The situation is that I left my rental house a couple of months ago. I applied for the return of the deposit via the deposit protection scheme. The landlord didn't engage with this process at all, to the point I had to put in a statutory declaration. Again, no response from him, and the DPS notified me that they would now return the deposit.
On the same day, I had an email from the landlord saying I had 'prematurely claimed back the deposit', with a list of things wrong with the house and attached invoices, for things like replacing the ensuite shower (a leak in the pipe that had, according to the plumber, been leaking for years), fixing the fences and gate (they were in no worse state than when I started renting the property), painting the whole property - now in one room the paint was damaged as my son had used tape on the walls - I expected a deduction for this and would have paid it. I took videos of the property when I left it, but I dont have any of it when I moved in. 
Today I have had another email, threatening legal action to recover the deposit and the 'loss of rent for 3 months', as they have had to do work to repair the house before renting it out again, as well as his legal costs. 
I guess I'm asking two things - 
Is he likely to get anywhere with this in the claims courts, given that he didn't engage with the deposit protection scheme?
Is the onus on him to demonstrate that the repairs needed were due to damage I caused (which I would absolutely refute)
thanks in advance for any advice!

Re the bit I've bolded above - your ex landlord is taking the proverbial with that.
I know a landlord who let a 2 bed property on a 12 month AST - the tenants moved out at the end of the fixed term this summer, leaving a huge amount of damage.  All of the carpet & underlay downstairs had to be replaced, the garden was under several foot of weeds, they'd broken the oven door, damaged the hob, damaged internal doors - the list goes on.  Everything was repaired or replaced & it had a new tenant in within 6 weeks.

Good point, I hadn't thought of that, thank you