A mediation and conciliation service which has previously been restricted to landlords and tenants is now on offer to letting agents. 

The service is free and describes itself as offering ”fair, impartial mid-tenancy dispute resolution between landlords and tenants in England and Wales.”

TDS chief executive Steve Harriott says: “TDS Resolution is a key part of our work, enabling landlords and tenants to work with our staff to reach a mutual agreement over in-tenancy disputes and hopefully prevent tenancies from being brought to an end. It’s one element of our strategic purpose of trying to make life easier for landlords and tenants. Up until now, we have only taken referrals from either tenants or landlords. We’re now opening that up to TDS member letting agents to refer potential disputes to us.”

The service is run by the Tenancy Deposit Service and covers disputes over property standards, repairs, entry rights, rent arrears, threatened evictions, breach of tenancy terms and noise and some anti social behaviour issues. 

To begin the process, agents – who must be TDS members – must fill out a Resolution Referral Form on the TDS website, having received consent from their landlord clients. 

Within five working days, TDS Resolution will get in touch to let you know if they will take your case forward. If the other party is willing to engage, TDS Resolution will contact them and then either arrange an online or telephone mediation or speak to each party to resolve the matter within 10 working days.

The mediation will be tailored to the needs of the parties, and if a satisfactory resolution is achieved, both parties will receive a settlement agreement. If the mediation is not successful, both parties can request a certificate noting the attempt to mediate.