DPS – Refund during lockdown?

I was in a similar position last year. I found DPS to be a right pain as I even managed to get my tenant who had abandoned to email stating I could take the deposit. They wouldn't accept this and requited a statutory declaration. Fortunately my regular solicitor was ok with signing this (socially distanced) for a nominal £5.
I switched to MyDeposits years ago and only have one left with DPS thankfully.

Reply to the comment left by Dylan Morris at 21/01/2021 - 13:44
Because that is the statutory requirement.

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 21/01/2021 - 14:05
Bonkers.

Definitely NOT DPS, !
use My Deposits Insurance scheme.

Reply to the comment left by Dylan Morris at 21/01/2021 - 14:54
No it's not bonkers. Making a statutory declaration carries the same legal weight as giving evidence in court under oath and exposes you to similar penalties if you make a false statement. it is a simple way for the DPS to show that they have gone as far as possible to establish the truth of whatever claims or statements you have made.

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 21/01/2021 - 18:23
But I think the point here is why exactly does a solicitor have to be employed? Why not any person in the community "of standing" in the same way that certifying a document is? That has become far from straight forward by the way!

Reply to the comment left by Paul Shears at 21/01/2021 - 18:30
You don't have to "employ" a solicitor, in effect he acts as an independent witness - all you do is go to his office, swear or affirm in his presence that the documents are accurate to the best of your knowledge and belief, sign them, pay him the statutory fee of £5 plus £2 for each additional document and he witnesses your declaration. That's it - he does not read the documents or offer any advice or guidance on the content. What's the problem? It's the cheapest and most convenient professional service that you could imagine.
There may be others who could perform the same service, such as a Notary Public, Commissioner for Oaths or Justice of the Peace but they would all charge the same and in many cases would also be solicitors anyway.
If for some obscure reason you do not like the Law, too bad, you are stuck with it.

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 21/01/2021 - 23:30Sorry but your comments do not even come close to my own recent experience but do reflect my own situation over 12 years ago.
But the world has changed enormously since then.
Below is a couple of examples of correspondence relating to getting a few documents certified in August 2020.
Mid-August 2020 (To Solicitor)
Dear (Solicitor)
I enclose the certified documents that you requested in your Email.
Please send the will to my address above by appropriate secure means and let me know your charge.
I have spent three days trying to comply with your entirely reasonable request for certified document copies.
I identified twenty one solicitors in the area and I spoke to five by telephone and at least another five at their offices. Not one of these solicitors is either willing or able to certify documents!
I have been given excuses from “We only do work for our clients” to the more common “We do not certify documents”.
In exasperation I pointed out to two of these firms that they must obviously place the same requirements on others in order to release documents that they hold. So how is this task accomplished by others? The answer that I received from both firms was that they did not know and they had no legal training with which to answer my question……. In other words, a “help-desk” mentality.
Clearly this simple task was going nowhere.
I moved on the financial institutions – banks and building societies.
I have used such organisations painlessly several times in the past when all you had to do was walk in and they would certify documents as a curtesy service immediately.
I approached Barclays, Lloyds, Nat West, HSBC and a couple of building societies and I got the same response, but only after they conferred with their line management, from all of them including my own, which was that they no longer certify documents.
So I moved on to my mother’s doctor and I was turned away after being told that I would have to raise a request on their web site.
I then did a bit of research on the internet and I found that councillors are able to certify documents.
Accordingly I met with Mr X who is a long standing County Councillor and he has certified the documents.
Late-August 2020 (From Solicitor)
Dear Sir
Thank you for this e mail. I did go into the Office yesterday and collected your letter together with the certified documentation. My apologies for the delay.
Firstly can I say I was staggered to read of the difficulties you encountered when trying to obtain certified documents from a number and wide variety of professionals. I have to confess I have never come across that before. I cannot provide an explanation for it. Perhaps precautions due to the virus?
I have also researched and agree that County Councillors appear qualified to certify documents amongst numerous others. I am also satisfied that Mr X is a County Councillor. I will need the following:
1. The Councillor has not dated the certification;
2. The Councillor has not certified that the photographic evidence is a true likeness to yourself.
In order to expedite matters I am happy to telephone Mr X (his mobile number is provided for on a (relevant) Website to clarify and ask him to confirm the additional information by email. Are you content for me to proceed along these lines?
I appreciate this all seems a terrible ‘faff’ but I am afraid I have to go through with these enquiries.
I can then arrange to send on to you, by Special Delivery, your mothers Will.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
(Solicitor)
Late August 2020
Just to be very clear, what you will see above was certainly not the end of the matter!
I immediately had to go through the whole bureaucratic quagmire again when a financial institution required different certified copies of the birth certificate and marriage certificate of someone who had absolutely no connection whatsoever with the task in hand and died in 2003.
Again, just to be clear, there is a vast population of human algorithms in this country who when asked why they are requiring that some task be accomplished, "think" that it is entirely satisfactory to say, both verbally and in writing, "that's the process". Of course for a great many of them, it really is.
A document can be certified by "anyone of standing in the community" and there are a list of suggestions on a government web site.
During the second round, I initially tried to get my dentist to certify a copy of the birth certificate and a marriage certificate. She fully sympathised with my position, having had exactly the same problem herself. But lacking the confidence to accomplish this unskilled task alone, she consulted her head of practice and her union.
The head of practice advised her to be guided by her professional union.
The view from her union was that whilst they knew of no reason for her to refuse to certify documents, there may be something that they did not know about and so they recommended that she refused to do so……..
Eventually I found another councillor who certified the additional documents for free within 24 hours.
I did not wish to pester the first councillor again.
So the lesson here is that almost none of the numerous “professional people of standing in the community” that I approached over two weeks were prepared to certify a document.
I had to go to what are essentially lay people to accomplish this.
I did not approach a commissioner for oaths as I was seeing a very clear trend here, but it was on my list.
Further:
My points above go way beyond the remit of this discussion.
Beyond getting a few documents certified, in my view, the totality of everything that I have to accomplish should amount to less than one man-days low skilled actual work between all those actually involved.
So far it has dragged on for five months and with absolutely no end in sight and no individual with the authority to manage it. As the executor of the simplest of estates, I most certainly do not!
My feedback from a several specialist legal firms is that they are being confronted with exactly the same problems that I have.
The “official” time frame from start to finish is eight to nine weeks.
What I am saying here is that absolutely nothing works as it is officially supposed to.
When all the minor tasks have been accomplished, absolutely nobody will be held accountable.
The comment from the solicitor that he is “staggered to read of the difficulties I encountered when trying to obtain certified documents from a number and wide variety of professionals” may well be because he has not tried to do this himself recently.

I made a £50 donation to the Councillor's associated charity in appreciation for their support.

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 21/01/2021 - 23:30
I just did a check on Commissioner for Oaths in my area and I found two.
On comparing these two with the list of solicitors that I contacted in August 2020, I have only just realised that they were both approached by myself as potential solicitors who might certify documents.
These are the absolute and truthful facts.
So much for taking responsibility and professional competence.
Yet more "help desks" staffed by biological algorithms.

Reply to the comment left by Paul Shears at 22/01/2021 - 03:10
We seem to be talking about two different things. As you say, there is a wide variety of people able to certify documents if they are willing. Some may be reluctant to do so, particularly if it involves confirming the accuracy of the information in the document as well as of the document itself. They might be concerned about exposing themselves to repercussions if they certify as accurate something that turns out to be false. The criteria are set by the organisation requiring the certification.

Making a statutory declaration is a distinct process governed as the name implies by statute. It does not include certifying anything about the documents, only that you have personally confirmed under oath that they are true.

All I can say is that I have never had a problem in making a statutory declaration. I have always understood that there is a professional obligation on solicitors to provide this service but I might well be mistaken.