Tenants
3. Dispute resolution
At the end of the tenancy, the Tenant
and Landlord (or Agent) may disagree about how much of the deposit should be returned. In these cases, they can seek advice and assistance from the mydeposits Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service, which is free and impartial.
Step 1 Tenant notifies mydeposits
EITHER:
- Tenant lodges a dispute online using the mydeposits Dispute Resolution service.
- Tenant enters their Deposit Protection Number (from the Deposit Protection Certificate.
- Tenant uploads evidence in support of their claim, eg. tenancy agreement, inventory, photos, rent statements, bills, or other correspondence within the 10 days allowed.
- Tenant can monitor the progress of their dispute through the mydeposits Dispute Resolution service.
OR:
- Tenant requests a Dispute Notification Claim Form from mydeposits Customer Service Centre.
- Tenant completes the Dispute Notification Claim Form and returns it with any evidence in support of their claim e.g. tenancy agreement, inventory, photos, rent statements, bills, or other correspondence within the 10 days allowed.
Step 2 Landlord's counter claim
- mydeposits notifies the Landlord/Agent of the claim.
- mydeposits requests the Landlord/Agent's counter claim and evidence within 20 working days.
Step 3 Disputed amount lodged with mydeposits
- Within the same 20 working day period, the Landlord/Agent is asked to lodge the disputed amount with mydeposits, where it is held in a secure client account.
- This disputed amount will be held by mydeposits until a fair distribution has been agreed – either through the ADR service or the court.
- If the Landlord (or Agent) fails to pay the disputed amount to the Scheme within the time allowed, mydeposits will apply the Scheme's discipline procedures to the Landlord/Agent leading to their expulsion from the Scheme. This will not prevent the Tenant from receiving the amount they are entitled to.
Step 4 Deposit distributed
- mydeposits will distribute the disputed amount based on the decision of the ADR service or court.
Summary
- Within 3 months of the deposit being unprotected, a Tenant can dispute the amount of the returned deposit.
- If the Tenant disputes the amount of deposit being returned by the Landlord/ Agent, they can lodge a dispute online using the mydeposits Dispute Resolution service, or complete a Dispute Notification Claim Form and return it by post.
- Where ADR is used, the entire dispute resolution process should not exceed 60 days in most cases.
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