UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi All,

I have recently received the DPS decision on a deposit dispute that I had with the tenant. I am shocked by the low amount that I have been awarded and I am severely out of pocket by the amount I had to spend to get the property back into a good condition.

I wanted to see if I go can now go after the tenant for the rest of the deposit and the other costs associated with repairing the property? I was unable to go through the small claims court in the beginning because it says that you cannot use this service for a deposit dispute - This is why I went through the dispute through the DPS, but now I have the decision can I now go through the small claims court, to get what I am rightfully owed?

Thanks for your help!

Yes,you could now pursue the rest of the money.However,you need to ascertain the likelihood of actually getting the money paid back to you.If they are on benefits,forget it.Do they have assets,regular paid employment? Of course,some landlords understandably go ahead anyway in order to give the tenant a CCJ on their record. Some tenants see that as a badge of honour.It could make you feel a whole lot better,or it could frustrate you even more. Good luck.

The deposit arbitration is binding. You're going to have a very high bar to challenge the decision, mainly along the line of they didn't follow their own process etc. You can't just go to court to attempt to claim based on the same arguments. There are certainly circumstances where you get deposit arbitration on the deposit first, then something else in court, but this doesn't sound like it to me.

As you agreed to hold a Deposit with one of the Schemes... and as you agreed to follow their ADR process when a Dispute arose... and an objective third-party ruled the amount you should receive... then you already have what you are rightfully owed. QED, right?

I realise you won't agree... but you cannot state it otherwise. Not really. What you mean is that you haven't got what you think you deserve. And the problem with this is manifold... but one main reason is that Landlords genuinely don't understand how things are supposed to work (and Tenants too)... so there are many tenancies ending where one side loses-out (I'd think it's more often Tenants who just want to get out of the situation and move on) but if things were done by the book most Landlords would probably be shocked at what was 'legally' claimable from the Deposit... my strategy has always been to compromise to the point of it hurting to avoid using anyone else poring over my situations. I've never had too many problems... but I would rather settle for less than I think I'm due to get a Tenant agreeing (even happy) and we both just move on. I don't think I'd ever go to ADR.

Anyway, I suspect that you would be throwing good money / effort after bad if you elected to do anything more on this.

Some days you get the bear and some days the bear gets you.

Please let us know if you change your mind and decide to roll over and have your belly tickled (which is what I'm suggesting you accept, and do).

Unless it has changed since I have gone through one there was an option where I had to agree if I wanted to use the free arbitration or if I wanted to go through the courts.  So to do a dispute I would have to confirm that I am agreeing to a free arbitration.

If this is the case then my guess is the arbitration decision will be binding and it's unlikely a court would find differently in my experience.

As I understood it,this is not just about  the remainder of the deposit.The landlord refers to expenses that are in excess of that,so surely this would be a straightforward claim? Would the earlier DPS decision extend to  compromise any further sums claimed? 

Don't you feel the Landlord is on a hiding-to-nothing here, though? The fact this already went to ADR already implies the Tenant is not one to just accept something demanded of them... they will very likely fight... so if a straightforward claim is put forward via MCOL, then you can bet your bottom dollar the Tenant will be prepared to take it on, again. I don't know why I sense that discretion is the better part of valour here... maybe some unsaid things... maybe how "shocked" the Landlord was by the outcome. I wonder if their demands were actually unreasonable ones. It is perfectly possible for us to find out the Landlord inflated and invented all sorts in an attempt at outrageous betterment... and the DPS could see straight through it.

"everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face" - Mike Tyson.

Yes,you can't get blood out of a stone. It does not matter what the court decides,a tenant who is flat broke or very wily will always get out of it. I know someone who "won" their case.Around 8k,to be paid at £10 a month.She received the first few payments,then nothing ever again.   

The amount you receive will depend on the lifespan of the product and the state it was in when the inventory was completed. Below is a great link to give you an idea of a lifespan of typical items in a property

https://www.tenancydepositscheme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Product_Lifespans_Guide_NRLA_version_Updated_Feb_2021.pdf

When taking a tenant to court over claims you have to consider the following

• Can the tenant pay
• How much will it cost you EG: Legal Fees

Most of the time its not worth the time and money it will take to go through the courts and its better to do some repairs and get a new tenant in the property as quickly as possible.

Sadly in this business you have some good and some bad tenants