Rental flat - DPS arbitration
Discussion
We had a tenant in our flat for 6 months until mid January, we didn't extend the contract as she lied about being a smoker in a flat clearly marketed as non-smoker only.
The flat was completely renovated prior to her moving in with new carpets and paintwork throughout.
We weren't happy with the state of the place when she moved out, hall and lounge carpets had to be deep-cleaned and there was damage to walls in several areas including lumps of masonary knocked out, damage from a baby bouncer fitted to a door frame and heavy scuffing from bicycle or pram wheels (we didn't consider this fair wear and tear).
The tenant originally agreed the carpet cleaning bill but then her guarantor got involved and disputed everything. We asked the agent to go to DPS arbitration in January. It then went completely quiet until 2 weeks ago when I chased by E-mail to see what progress there had been. I got no response until today when I received an E-mail from the agent telling me we had been awarded £15.
We are surprised that the decision has already been made as we have not been asked at any point to contribute material for the arbitration process (we have photos and witness statements from contrators, etc.).
Does it sound reasonable that the agent would progress the claim without asking us to contribute or even review the submission? We have not seen the submission or the formal decision yet (we're told it is in the post).
We understand that it is unlikely that this case can be reviewed, depending on what is contained in the decision do we have grounds for a complaint against the agent?
The flat was completely renovated prior to her moving in with new carpets and paintwork throughout.
We weren't happy with the state of the place when she moved out, hall and lounge carpets had to be deep-cleaned and there was damage to walls in several areas including lumps of masonary knocked out, damage from a baby bouncer fitted to a door frame and heavy scuffing from bicycle or pram wheels (we didn't consider this fair wear and tear).
The tenant originally agreed the carpet cleaning bill but then her guarantor got involved and disputed everything. We asked the agent to go to DPS arbitration in January. It then went completely quiet until 2 weeks ago when I chased by E-mail to see what progress there had been. I got no response until today when I received an E-mail from the agent telling me we had been awarded £15.
We are surprised that the decision has already been made as we have not been asked at any point to contribute material for the arbitration process (we have photos and witness statements from contrators, etc.).
Does it sound reasonable that the agent would progress the claim without asking us to contribute or even review the submission? We have not seen the submission or the formal decision yet (we're told it is in the post).
We understand that it is unlikely that this case can be reviewed, depending on what is contained in the decision do we have grounds for a complaint against the agent?
Its quite well known now that DPS favour the tenant. The tables have turned in the last few years in their favour. We don't use DPS anymore after a dispute. My advice is take it to the small claims court. Have a look on landlordzone, some great helpful legals on there giving free advice. Agents don't really bother as much as you would. Get stuck in and don't let them get away with it.
I would be interested to know whether your managing agent carried out an inventory for the property and got this signed by the tenants? and please say there was a check out report as well? If not then you stand little chance with the DPS.
But you may be able to prove that the agents have been negligent as they owe you a duty of care and this has been breached by them not following reasonable standards and some damage/loss has occurred.
As said above all the best hopefully you will be able to recover some of if not all of your expenses.
But you may be able to prove that the agents have been negligent as they owe you a duty of care and this has been breached by them not following reasonable standards and some damage/loss has occurred.
As said above all the best hopefully you will be able to recover some of if not all of your expenses.
Update
It's proven difficult to get information out of the agent but it would appear from the DPS report that the tenant was favoured due to lack of evidence.
The agent failed to mention in the claim that the tenant had breached contract by smoking in a no-smoking flat. They also failed to write to the tenant and guarantor as requested by us earlier in the letting to make them aware that they would be held liable for carpet and other cleaning costs at the end of the contract.
The agent made to attempt to invite the tenant to the check out.
The agent made no attempt to revisit the flat when the additional issues discovered by us and inadequacy of the check out report were pointed out to them.
None of our evidence was asked for or submitted.
Due to the uselessnes of the agent we gave them notice that we didn't want to use them anymore ath the end of our new tenant's first 6 months and would return to private renting with this tenant. They now wish to charge us 6 months commission as a cancellation fee. Do we have grounds for disputing this due to breach of contract over the crap service they've provided? Is this something we should take up with ARLA or the Ombudsman or should we take a legal route?
It's proven difficult to get information out of the agent but it would appear from the DPS report that the tenant was favoured due to lack of evidence.
The agent failed to mention in the claim that the tenant had breached contract by smoking in a no-smoking flat. They also failed to write to the tenant and guarantor as requested by us earlier in the letting to make them aware that they would be held liable for carpet and other cleaning costs at the end of the contract.
The agent made to attempt to invite the tenant to the check out.
The agent made no attempt to revisit the flat when the additional issues discovered by us and inadequacy of the check out report were pointed out to them.
None of our evidence was asked for or submitted.
Due to the uselessnes of the agent we gave them notice that we didn't want to use them anymore ath the end of our new tenant's first 6 months and would return to private renting with this tenant. They now wish to charge us 6 months commission as a cancellation fee. Do we have grounds for disputing this due to breach of contract over the crap service they've provided? Is this something we should take up with ARLA or the Ombudsman or should we take a legal route?
Letting agent here (not yours!)sticking his nose in!
The ONLY way you can get satisfaction from a DPS appeal is to present your submission with cast iron before and after evidence. We now have each property filmed, the tenant checked in by the filming co and they sign a copy of the DVD to confirm agreement. Each party gets one copy. At the end of the tenancy, the same company checks them out with an iPad walkaround highlighting any variations beyond wear and tear. That's tough evidence to argue against. Cost in Somerset about £160 for the DVD and check-in, about £70 for the check-out. Initially it spooks the tenants but most look at it as a completely fair way to do this.
As for your situation, it'll be down to if the agent had clear instructions to prepare a decent inventory. If yes and they didn't, you have a perfectly good case to tell them where to go. Any decent Firm would bow out gracefully and let you go if they'd messed up. If however you weren't clear on what you wanted, they would have an argument to say they did only as instructed. As such, I too would look for my fees for the new deal. If you are not happy, don't waste time with the various 'official' bodies, go to trading standards.
Do hope you get things sorted, we're not all bad!
The ONLY way you can get satisfaction from a DPS appeal is to present your submission with cast iron before and after evidence. We now have each property filmed, the tenant checked in by the filming co and they sign a copy of the DVD to confirm agreement. Each party gets one copy. At the end of the tenancy, the same company checks them out with an iPad walkaround highlighting any variations beyond wear and tear. That's tough evidence to argue against. Cost in Somerset about £160 for the DVD and check-in, about £70 for the check-out. Initially it spooks the tenants but most look at it as a completely fair way to do this.
As for your situation, it'll be down to if the agent had clear instructions to prepare a decent inventory. If yes and they didn't, you have a perfectly good case to tell them where to go. Any decent Firm would bow out gracefully and let you go if they'd messed up. If however you weren't clear on what you wanted, they would have an argument to say they did only as instructed. As such, I too would look for my fees for the new deal. If you are not happy, don't waste time with the various 'official' bodies, go to trading standards.
Do hope you get things sorted, we're not all bad!
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