Any body who has worried about a dispute with their tenant over their tenancy deposit should have a look at Tom Derretts' excellent series of posts and advice on disputes over the tenancy deposit.
For information about repaying the tenant's deposit have a look at this recent magazine article.
Landlord insurance - all risks
As a tenant, when my Landlord decided that he wanted a big chunk of my money for fictous work, I wne tot the CAB. They advised taht teh arbitration services usually split any queries 50/50 either way, regardless of the evidence, so they persueded me to use teh small claims court. Several months on, I am getting my full deposit back + compensation; landlord is getting a county court judgement against him. A tenant reference system could operate hand in hand with a landlord reference service, to get rogues out of the system.
ReplyDeleteAhem... let me rewrite that .....
ReplyDeleteAs a tenant, when my Landlord decided that he wanted a big chunk of my deposit money to cover ficticous repairs, I was advised that the arbitration services usually split any queries 50/50 either way, regardless of the evidence, so I used the small claims court, this was easy, and truely impartial. Several months on, I am getting my full deposit back + compensation; landlord is getting a county court judgement against him. A tenant reference system could operate hand in hand with a landlord reference service, to get rogues out of the system.