TDS Experience or Tips?

[drivefauld]

We have just conducted the end of tenancy inspection for a tenant who was only in our property for 4 months. Long story short they never returned their condition report when they moved in so the vacate was based on the entry report that we provided. Essentially, the state of the house is appalling to say the least. Every wall in the property has been painted on in the wrong paint and colour, the laminate flooring as been stained, painted on, lifted in places and saturated in water, the carpets have been stained with paint during the poor attempts to conceal the damage to the walls, the feature walls have been patched in completely wrong colour paint and the place as not been cleaned to any standard, there is hair and dirt piled in the corners, the oven is full of grit and food, the carpets are stained, the house stinks of smoke and weed, the list goes on really, missing items, blinds put up in odd places, things put in walls, holes in walls, garden has been neglected completely.

Anyway, my question really, or request for advice perhaps, is just what are others experiences with TDS and deposit disputes? We have been very reasonable with the tenants, allowing them to leave early, gave a good ref (before we had obviously seen the state of the house), we let them hand keys over at 8pm on a Sunday night because they claimed they'd paid until midnight and I think were trying desperately to cover up what they could in the house before handover etc;. We have sent them an email outlining all the issues on the report, we have obtained multiple quotes to have rectified the entire house painting, the carpet clean, the laminate flooring and a tenancy clean and sent all this info to them requesting they release the deposit (the total cost to repair the house to a rentable state is near £3500, we have requested they give up the deposit and accepted that the rest will have to be written off and paid for along with lesson learned.

The response to our very detailed and amicable email was to text our group messages and say good luck then leave the chat. They have not acknowledged the email nor responded to any of the claims, so I have opened a case with TDS. We have kept records of all corres., the report at move in and move out, have taken extensive photos and got quotes for all the work as well as made a list of the things we aren't even including in the repairs that we'll write off and we have the email we sent to them and a log we kept during the tenancy of any issues and so on.

TDS have the case now and I think we must just wait now until the tenant respond. Knowing they will respond and dispute that the money should be kept by us, with what evidence they'll use I am not sure, has anyone been down this road and how likely is a refund to us?

Thanks

[ash72]

All deposit schemes are basically the same, if either party disputes the deposit return, then it goes to arbitration, you present your information, costs, estimates etc and the T either provides there or not, and the scheme then makes a judgement on the evidence presented to them. The problem is what you have stated, your deposit will not cover even half the cost of the repairs/re-painting etc, and you would then need to sue the T in the small claims if it's under 10k.

The limitation on the deposit really does not offer much protection for a LL when the property is trashed, it is only a fraction of the repair bill.

[jpkeates]

Create a schedule of all of the damage and calculate the loss precisely, based on the damage, not the repair cost.
You need a bullet proof and consistent detailed list, because, from the sound of it, the deposit is only going to be the start.

[Section20z]

Sadly the advice is don't waste too much time on this they don't sound the type of people worth pursuing in small claims. TDS are not fit for purpose so a bit random if they give you the money, just see their reviews.
You are one of the lucky ones to have your house back !

[DPT57]

Long story short they never returned their condition report when they moved in so the vacate was based on the entry report that we provided.

This is your biggest problem. I make sure my tenants sign the inventory/condition report on the day they move-in. What is your evidence that they were given that report at the start of the tenancy if they say they've never seen it before?