The Deposit Protection Service says that in 2014 one in six landlords required to submit evidence after agreeing to dispute resolution either missed the deadline or sent in nothing, meaning an automatic ruling or pay out for the tenant.
The DPS – which protects deposits during tenancies and provides a separate independent adjudication service for the adjudication of disputes – says 17.63 per cent of landlords missed deadlines or failed to respond.
Tenants were even less likely to submit evidence in time, with over 22.86 per cent either providing evidence after the deadline or failing to deliver any at all.
Alexandra Coghlan-Forbes, Head of Adjudication at the DPS, says: “Too many landlords and tenants are shooting themselves in the foot during disputes by failing to get us the evidence we need to assess their cases. We do everything we can to make sure both parties understand what’s needed and by when, and it’s important that both landlords and tenants meet the 14 calendar day deadline.”
During 2014 failing to submit evidence at all was more common than missing deadlines, with evidence from 10.37 per cent of landlords and 15.77 per cent of tenants never being submitted.
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Comments
Hardly surprising when adjudications are so skewed in favour of the tenant, starting with them able to raise a dispute for a tenner!!
Any dispute under £100 just is not worth contesting, especially for an agent the work involved isn't worth it and Landlords resent paying any fee to cover it no matter what a contract might say.
I am not a conspiracy theorist but my bet is the legislators considered this when allowing the foolish no minimum claim in the Statute/Scheme Regs