Are deposit schemes fair to landlords?

Having used one of the government-backed deposit schemes for many years, I have recently been exposed to the unfairness of the system by the one I use (I won’t name them here). I am interested in other landlords’ experiences of using the government schemes and if there are any schemes that give landlords a fairer hearing.

My focus is when there is a dispute over any claims against the deposit when the tenancy is over due to damage, poor hygiene, poor garden maintenance and smell.

My experience of using the Adjudicator is that they always side with the tenants, no matter what compelling evidence a landlord submits and will always give the tenant the benefit of the doubt. The system is stacked against the landlords as the tenant is allowed to comment on any landlord evidence, and as they input their testimony last, the landlord cannot comment on the tenant’s version of events, which is normally a pack of lies.

Damage to walls, doors, electrical fittings, carpets, kitchen units etc is difficult to prove unless you have taken 100s of photos at the start of the tenancy and if you are lucky, you may have photographed the damaged area; if you haven’t, the tenants claim it was there on Day 1. The Adjudicator just puts many of these issues down to fair wear and tear. The cleanliness of the property/ tidiness of the garden at the start and end of tenancy is another subjective area which an Adjudicator will ignore if the tenant has said the property was spotless and the garden tidy.

I have a landlord friend whose tenants damaged the gas boiler by continually over-pressuring the system. He had his plumber write an expert report summarising the damage to the boiler by the tenants but this was discounted by the Adjudicator as the plumber was not independent enough!

Pet smell is one of those areas that can be subjective. I do not have dogs, but I can identify the presence of a dog in a house as soon as the door is opened, but owners are nose blind and will refute that there is a doggy smell in the house. It is very hard to prove there was no dog smell before the tenancy started, and the only way to remove it is by extensive carpet shampooing, if you are lucky, or by replacing any carpets.

I have taken to employing an inventory company that produces a report at the start of the tenancy that contains 300+ photos to try and capture the condition and smell, of the property at the start of the tenancy at a cost of about £70. I have not had to use these reports yet in any Adjudication, but time will tell. They will no doubt be accused of not being independent as well!

Thanks for reading,

Mike