Deposit Scheme Adjudicator - Examples

Tenant Discussion
1

I am in dispute with a highly unreasonable landlord regarding return of deposit. Just to give an idea, they are demanding 100% of refurbishment costs - after almost five years of living in the flat. They are now claiming £18k of costs on a tenancy of £3k per month so ist has become serious.

Landlord refused to use the TDS adjudicator service. My point is that using the adjudicator would have avoided all legal costs. However, landlord argues that the adjudicator cannot make awards of more than the deposit.

In order to make my point, I would need to know what information you get from the adjudicator in case the costs of damages exceed the deposit amount.

Are they just telling you something along the lines of “The sum of damaged attributable to the tenant exceed the deposit”, or do they give you an assessment, line by line based on the check-out report, what the reasonable repair cost of the damage is and who is responsible for it (even if the total amount exceeds the deposit)?

It would be absolutely great if someone who has used the adjudicator in a deposit dispute could give me a (redacted) example of exactly what information you get back.

Thank you very much!

2

If this is a true post let it go to court if you have not done the damages suggested
The judge will rule by the same legislation as the adjudicator and does exactly the same as the adjudicator it’s just the damages are way in excess of what the adjudicator can moderate for

The landlord will have to prove his case in exactly the same way

1 Like
3

The landlord is correct that any claim above the deposit limit needs to be heard in court. However, as A_A suggests, the courts are no soft touch for landlords. They will require excellent evidence that you are responsible for the damage and that the costs are reasonable. This will include a detailed inventory/schedule of condition and evidence of agreement by you. Also photos of the before and after condition will be important. The judge will also expect the landlord to have discounted the claim to allow for the age and condition of the items. Its for the landlord to prove, not you.

4

might be helpful if you could elaborate on what they expect to cost that amount of money?

1 Like
5

Building an extension ?….
New roof made with gold tiles :slight_smile: