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
Good point Sophie
I would like to know what happens if tenants submit a dispute to be resolved and they enter the incorrect details for the Landlord/Agent maybe in error but perhaps even on purpose! - perhaps even knowing that the dispute service are more likely to rule in favor of the tenant, if no response has been received What procedures are put in place to ensure that the information has actually been received by any party involved Could it actually be possible that there are no procedures in place and therefore in the case of incorrect emails etc being informed, that the details of the dispute haven't been received - so obviously completely unaware that a dispute has been referred and hence no evidence presented
Did the DPS ask why people failed to respond and what % of these were because the tenants couldn't be traced, i.e. landlords chasing deposits from tenants who have done a bunk
It would also be interesting to know the % of cases where the tenant failed to respond, where the DPS then accepted the landlords claim unreservedly.
Also a breakdown of the disputes by value. I suspect that a lot of claims were sub 250 and a case of the landlord or tenant being bl**dy minded for the sake of it.