dps scheme - wait and see

My last landlord was class - first time landlord renting out the house he used to live in with his family. He didn't care if we drilled/nailed in walls and allowed us to have a dog despite our original tenancy agreement forbidding it (got it amended, no extra deposit).

When it came to moving out he didn't mind that skirting/door frames had been chewed by our teething puppy and that we'd left holes from a wall mounted TV - "Wear and tear, it's fine I'll just fix it". Full deposit back :) probably helped that he was a builder that didn't mind doing this sort of stuff in his spare time! We did point out post-deposit that he might want to be careful that future tenants didn't take the pee more than we did and that taking money off of us would have been more than reasonable...
 
about to move out of a rented property this month, still not heard anything about a checkout date, I assumed I'd receive a letter, the agents have told me they will just call up nearer the time. I hoped that now, as deposits are held with a third party that claims would be fair but reading this thread, I see people still have to jump through hoops just to get their own money back.

Our landlord is generally not too much of a problem to deal with and has sold the place for his asking price so I'm hoping he wont try and squeeze unfairly from us!
 
Well currently the landlord/agency have not responded at all to my request.

Deposit status AWAITING AGENT/LANDLORD RESPONSE

The only issue is that my paperwork shows the Agent/Landlord is Heywoods Ltd (the estate agent)
but they were not involved in any of the tenancy except for finding the tenant at doing the credit checks etc with me. Once that was complete the entire process was between myself and the landlord directly, the agents were not involved.

So I don't know who the request has gone to with the DPS claim. If heywoords then they are not involved. So they may ignore it!

Any idea how long the agents have to respond before the monies are just default allocated back to me directly?
 
Happened to me while I was at Uni, Landlord tried to get £120 from all of us and the entire deposit from my housemate.

He called BS, went to a small claims court and the Landlord just gave everything back without going to court.

You will find you have way more protection than you think, just call him out on it if anything happens and go right to a solicitor or a small claims court. In my experience landlords/agencies hope to get money out of you for nothing fight back and they cower and refund your deposit because they don't want to pay court costs.
 
kieran_read said:
Happened to me while I was at Uni, Landlord tried to get £120 from all of us and the entire deposit from my housemate.

He called BS, went to a small claims court and the Landlord just gave everything back without going to court.

You will find you have way more protection than you think, just call him out on it if anything happens and go right to a solicitor or a small claims court. In my experience landlords/agencies hope to get money out of you for nothing fight back and they cower and refund your deposit because they don't want to pay court costs.
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That's the whole point of the DPS there should be no need to be taking anything to court it should be sorted by the DPS procedures.
 
tom_e said:
That's the whole point of the DPS there should be no need to be taking anything to court it should be sorted by the DPS procedures.
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I'm not sure 100% what happened he sorted it out, I think DPS done that on his behalf, as in threatened to take it to SCC as he had no grounds to stand on. (We too pictures before we moved in, painted the walls before we left etc)

At the very least I know he refused to sign anything, at the time the Landlord can't get the money unless both parties agree, even those who did sign it off (as they weren't loosing much so didn't care) it was invalid and they got money back they wasn't expecting.
 
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well its been 9 days since I have put in the claim for my funds back and the landlord/agent still haven't responded to it. Gunna call the DPS later I think.
 
Is there some kind of forfeit time frame? I think if the landlord is dragging his heels and doesn't respond he should forfeit any claim and the monies returned to you.

Either party could, out of spite refuse to sign if they aren't happy but know they don't have a leg to stand on
 
Jamesyboyjim said:
Is there some kind of forfeit time frame? I think if the landlord is dragging his heels and doesn't respond he should forfeit any claim and the monies returned to you.

Either party could, out of spite refuse to sign if they aren't happy but know they don't have a leg to stand on
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Yup, they have to respond within 10 days
 
Stringy said:
My last landlord was class - first time landlord renting out the house he used to live in with his family. He didn't care if we drilled/nailed in walls and allowed us to have a dog despite our original tenancy agreement forbidding it (got it amended, no extra deposit).

When it came to moving out he didn't mind that skirting/door frames had been chewed by our teething puppy and that we'd left holes from a wall mounted TV - "Wear and tear, it's fine I'll just fix it". Full deposit back :) probably helped that he was a builder that didn't mind doing this sort of stuff in his spare time! We did point out post-deposit that he might want to be careful that future tenants didn't take the pee more than we did and that taking money off of us would have been more than reasonable...
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tbh he can't get many worse tenants than you. I'd be ashamed to leave the place like that and if I did I'd have offered to pay towards sorting it out
 
Nope, Haggisman is wrong.

I have called the DPS scheme, and after 14 calendar days I can start a "single claim" for the funds.

This involves me completing a legal document which MUST be signed by me and witnessed by a solictor or magistrate - of course I will have to pay a fee for this. Then I can submit that to the DPS scheme company, this claim essetnially then gives the agent/landlord 10 calendar days to respond before the DPS can just release the funds to me without approval from the other side.
 
Agency charged my sister because the garden was messy and the oven needed cleaning. Both were left in a better condition than what they were when she moved in.

And I know the agency didn't do anything to the garden to "put it right" as I walk past the house every week.
 
Ace Modder said:
Nope, Haggisman is wrong.

I have called the DPS scheme, and after 14 calendar days I can start a "single claim" for the funds.

This involves me completing a legal document which MUST be signed by me and witnessed by a solictor or magistrate - of course I will have to pay a fee for this. Then I can submit that to the DPS scheme company, this claim essetnially then gives the agent/landlord 10 calendar days to respond before the DPS can just release the funds to me without approval from the other side.
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Ah, fair enough, I was going from here:

https://www.mydeposits.co.uk/tenants/faqs?page=1
 
sorry haggisman, didnt mean to correct you, I wish you was right, cos doing it the way the DPS scheme advisor told me is crap and costly.

Also with regards to the claim I've read if I want the landlord/agency to cover my legal costs I have to apply to small claims court to get it back. No idea what the costs are for the solictor to witness my signing though, maybe its so low it's not worth the hassle.

I phoned the agent to chase them today and they said they are awaiting my actual landlord to instruct them.
 
Ace Modder said:
The only issue is that my paperwork shows the Agent/Landlord is Heywoods Ltd (the estate agent)
but they were not involved in any of the tenancy except for finding the tenant at doing the credit checks etc with me. Once that was complete the entire process was between myself and the landlord directly, the agents were not involved.
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That's quite normal as the estate/letting agent will have registered the deposit with the relevant deposit protection scheme on behalf of the landlord.

It sounds like the Landlord used a 'Tenant Find' service rather than a 'Full Management' service


With the The Dispute Service (TDS) the timeline for deposit dispute is:

10 Working days from the last day of the Tenancy

Landlord to advise Tenant of proposed deductions from the deposit

20 Working days from the last day of the Tenancy

Tenant to advise Landlord in writing if disputing any of the Landlord requests

If no dispute, the deposit should be paid back

30 Working days from the last day of the Tenancy

The dispute should be advised to the Dispute Service with all supporting paperwork

58 Working days from the last day of the Tenancy (approximately)

TDS will provide adjudication

68 Working days from the last day of the Tenancy (approximately)

TDS will pay out the disputed funds to whom it has found in favour

6 Months from last day of tenancy

TDS will no longer adjudicate in any dispute. Case closed.
 
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