DPS dispute resolution services – tips for tenants submitting evidence?

My son and his friends are trying to get the return of their student rental deposit, and have to send evidence to the DPS dispute resolution services. I would welcome tips or comments from anyone who has experience of the process.

Their problem is that we don’t know exactly what the landlords will be claiming for, so we don’t know how much to include with our evidence.

We have repeatedly asked the landlord to provide a clear and concise list of their claims, along with evidence, but they haven’t done so.

According to the DPS terms and conditions, the landlord must “tell us [i.e. DPS] the amount of each deduction you wish to make from the Deposit, and the reason why you are making the claim. If you have multiple reasons for requesting deductions, you will need to list all of them”. The landlords haven’t done this, so we think they are in breach of the DPS terms and conditions.

We have always wanted to use the dispute resolution services, as we feel confident of our case, but the landlords steadfastly refused to. They just wanted us to release the whole deposit to them, and have been using bullying/scare tactics. This has worked for them in previous years, where the past tenants have eventually given in to pressure and paid up. We spoke to the University’s Student Union Advice Centre, who confirmed that the landlords are well known to them from previous student complaints. We are trying to get them to give us a witness statement.

We were very pleasantly surprised when the landlords suddenly changed their minds about using the dispute resolution services. I know that it’s up to them to provide the evidence for any deductions. They don’t appear to be very well organised, so I’m hoping that they won’t make a good case.

But what should we submit? Should we try and guess what they might put in for, and give our counter evidence? If we miss something, then we are at risk of losing out.

The landlords did an inspection just before check out, but they identified hardly any issues. We will submit this as evidence.

Then five weeks after the kids moved out, the landlords sent a 13 page list containing 169 points, which bears no resemblance to the pre-check-out inspection. Their claims mostly fall into the categories of new for old/betterment, pre-existing, fair wear and tear, or simply untrue. They’ve sent a few receipts, but some of the dates have been scribbled out, so we think they are for work carried out before our tenancy. We also think they have been deliberately manufacturing claims – we have some proof but I don’t want to give details in case they read this!

We were shell-shocked, but went through those 169 points carefully, and as a result we did release a small amount of the deposit for 4 items that we accepted.

We don't know if the landlords will try and claim for all the remaining points. Should we submit a response to every point just in case, or will it open a can of worms if we bring up issues that the landlords don’t? Maybe we should just pick out some of the key claims and give our response to those.

One of my son's friends created her own time-stamped check-in inventory document, using special tenancy management software, with over 130 photos, and descriptions of “damage” present when they moved in. We can use this to prove that many of the claims were pre-existing (e.g. cracked tiles).

We will also send our photos from the day they vacated the house, showing that it was left in a generally clean and tidy condition.

We also have many emails, which demonstrate the bullying tactics and personal insults that my son and his friends were subjected to.

Any thoughts, anyone?