DPS Adjudicators-B45tards-What Now?
Discussion
My tennant left my house a couple of months ago and basically left it trashed - somewhere in the region of £6K remedial work was required.
The deposit (£850) was with the DPS and we ended up going through the adjudicator to get it back - to be honest I thought it was pretty cut and dry. The house was decent when they moved in, trashed when they moved out (Door frames split, holes in walls, BADLY decorated, filthy, stinking and three holes punched/kicked in the backdoor). An inventory signed by the tennant and our estate agent said it was decent when she moved in and we took plenty of photographs showing the state of it when she moved out.
The ONLY evidence that the tennant produced was a 'report' from a 'health and safety consultant' saying the house was damp and falling to bits. Despite numerous requests, the tennant could not and did not provide any evidence of who did the report, what qualifications they had or any evidence to back up what it contained. It was not signed nor on headed paper. To me it looked as though she had printed on her own PC. (The house is NOT damp OR Falling to bits!)
Unfortunately the DPS adjudicator, despite being 'concerned' about the lack of headed notepaper and signature, decided to believe it's spurious lies and give the tennant her deposit back!
I know now that I should have had a professional counter report done, but to be honest the original one was so amateurish I genuinely didn't believe anyone in their right mind would give it the time of day. But that's in the past.
Does anyone have any experience of this or know of any avenues that are now open to me?
The £850 wouldn't have gone far to repairing the house but it makes me feel sick that someone has given her that money, after what she did to my house, based solely on a fabricated word document!
The deposit (£850) was with the DPS and we ended up going through the adjudicator to get it back - to be honest I thought it was pretty cut and dry. The house was decent when they moved in, trashed when they moved out (Door frames split, holes in walls, BADLY decorated, filthy, stinking and three holes punched/kicked in the backdoor). An inventory signed by the tennant and our estate agent said it was decent when she moved in and we took plenty of photographs showing the state of it when she moved out.
The ONLY evidence that the tennant produced was a 'report' from a 'health and safety consultant' saying the house was damp and falling to bits. Despite numerous requests, the tennant could not and did not provide any evidence of who did the report, what qualifications they had or any evidence to back up what it contained. It was not signed nor on headed paper. To me it looked as though she had printed on her own PC. (The house is NOT damp OR Falling to bits!)
Unfortunately the DPS adjudicator, despite being 'concerned' about the lack of headed notepaper and signature, decided to believe it's spurious lies and give the tennant her deposit back!
I know now that I should have had a professional counter report done, but to be honest the original one was so amateurish I genuinely didn't believe anyone in their right mind would give it the time of day. But that's in the past.
Does anyone have any experience of this or know of any avenues that are now open to me?
The £850 wouldn't have gone far to repairing the house but it makes me feel sick that someone has given her that money, after what she did to my house, based solely on a fabricated word document!
Edited by swindorski on Tuesday 13th October 21:27
The Deposit Bond Scheme was not intended to help landlords in your type of situation, purely intended to regulate landlords.
Out of 15 properties I have three empty, one recently vandalised, where even if I took legal action against the ex tenant, the ex tenant would simply keep moving from one address to another, and I would simply be throwing good money after bad.
I have recently served a section 8 Notice on a PROSPECTIVE tenant, who has not even taken up residence, the tenant being supplied to me by the local Council’s Housing Services, who now say that since a tenancy agreement was signed, I must follow the legal route to gain access to the property.
To the OP, I know it hurts, but the law is not in place to protect landlords, so my advice would be unless your ex tenant has either secure employment and/or finances, I would move on and put the matter behind you.
Out of 15 properties I have three empty, one recently vandalised, where even if I took legal action against the ex tenant, the ex tenant would simply keep moving from one address to another, and I would simply be throwing good money after bad.
I have recently served a section 8 Notice on a PROSPECTIVE tenant, who has not even taken up residence, the tenant being supplied to me by the local Council’s Housing Services, who now say that since a tenancy agreement was signed, I must follow the legal route to gain access to the property.
To the OP, I know it hurts, but the law is not in place to protect landlords, so my advice would be unless your ex tenant has either secure employment and/or finances, I would move on and put the matter behind you.
GreenDog said:
I've thought about becoming a landlord in the past but everytime I read one of these tales it becomes less and less of a possibility. Nightmare.
I rented out my two properties for three years while I was in the process of emigrating. Never again. Tenant No.1 Crusty whining vegan types - demanded a reduced rent when the price of heating oil went up and claimed they couldn't afford both rent AND central heating. I suggested either adjusting the thermostat and an extra hemp cardigan or finding somewhere cheaper.
Tenant No.2 The Young couple - Early twenties with an infant but no common sense. They complained to the managing agent about a damp problem. Agent informed them that condensation was going to occur if they insisted on using both propane gas heaters and a tumble dryer without any ventilation, by rights all three of them should have died from asphyxia. Got the District Nurse to recommend that the LA rehouse them pronto before they were both done for infanticide.
Tenant No.3 The Single Bloke - Single for a reason, graffiti on the walls and visits from the Old Bill and Bailiffs.
Tenant No.4 The Single Girl - almost a model tentant and thanks for the THOSE catalogues love, you didn't look the bondage type.
Edited by Whatty on Wednesday 14th October 20:47
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