Is it worth it?

I know somebody who was a Tennant who took their dispute to appeal and the full claim was upheld by the DPS. The landlord got the full value of the claim an was happy with how it went. the Tennant felt aggrieved.

It very much depends on individual cases, and personal opinions as to whether a fair resolution is found. And sometimes shit just happens, it's not perfect.

I assumed the DPS was the same as any of the other companies that do the same. It wasn't until I tried to get a deposit back from a tenant who left but refused to reply to the DPS when I sent them the initial claim, did I know how longwinded and ridiculous the DPS is!
I had to wait 28 days to see if he replied to the claim for the full deposit (he left owing a months rent so the deposit covered it all plus a few damages). He didn't, I then had to get a signed Declaration from a solicitor sent and signed off. Even in the pandemic they expected meet to meet and sign in front of my solicitor the Declaration. Once they received that there was another 10 days if I remember for that to be processed. Once agreed it was another 10 days till the money was in the account. I will NEVER be using DPS again!

Guarantor. Strong-arm Nanna into coughing up on pain of being dragged through the Courts and possibly losing her house!

It's the only way (and always works).

Another problem with the DPS is that their communication is very unhelpful. I lost a case because I had not sent the photographs in the correct format. When I resent, I could not get an answer when I tried to find out if they had been received and were acceptable, (by phone and email).
I have now switched to the TDS, but only time will tell if they are betterl

It seems decisions are determined more by who can navigate the system better that who should actually get a payout.

Found out the hard way when a pet destroyed a new carpet, and a replacement carpet clause was written in agreement, but DPS still didn't award in my favour.

I agree it’s not particularly worth all the hassle of using the DPS however at least a justifiable claim will be contributed too . In my case I had a brand new carpet ruined by a large ring mark on it. However fortunately I had pictures of the carpet and when they signed the inventory the year before they didn’t mentioned the dirty ring mark on my brand new carpet which they now said was there all along . However it couldn’t be
seen on my Photographers . The DPS gave £30 towards the cost of the £200 to replace the brand new carpet . I have £30 in my ash tray in my car! Therefore not particularly helpful but at least I got something from tenants who were lying out of their perverbial A...E

In the wider scheme of things I believe the thought of a withheld deposit encourages most tenants to behave regardless of its paper tiger reality. Of course it's difficult to measure how effective it is in reality. Ie how many times has a deposit invisibly saved a landlord from problems through it's deterrent effect?

With LRLA's mydeposits insurance scheme the landlord pays about £30 and holds the deposit. At the end of deposit protection the cancellation form asks whether you have returned all or held back an amount. It's then up to the tenant to complain if they dispute the withheld amount.

So in terms of time and money it works as a disincentive - sometimes and it works sometimes if the tenant can't be bothered to dispute money held back.

The underlying principle is that the deposit belongs to the tenant unless the landlord can prove to the same standard that would be required in a court that the tenant owes him all or part of that money. If the tenant has disappeared or fails to respond, the ability to establish the landlord's claim based upon written evidence supported by a statutory declaration is actually a streamlined process which is advantageous to the landlord.
If you don't like the ADR service you always have the option of having the matter dealt with by court proceedings but if you think that will be any less demanding or give you a better outcome you probably have not been down that route.

I wouldn't recommend DPS. Unless it's for unpaid rent I assume I won't get much of the deposit back & the main benefit is the tenant thinks they might not get it back.

Our former agent lodged all deposits with DPS and we've had to claim 3 times. Claim 1 was repaid in full but impossble to dispute since it included 3+ months' unpaid rent. Claim2 we received nothing out of £1400. We made a formal complaint & DPS response washed their hands. I can't blame them - the agent had made an error, but the underlying cause was DPS system is poor, the DPS process isn't robust. Apparently the DPS had had this error before but has done nothing to prevent or fix it. Claim3 my reliable carpet fitter advised £150 for a repair that would always be obvious or £200 to replace. DPS adjudicator awarded £20. They work to a set of rules but I still haven't worked that one out.

Claiming is a lot of effort - I submit documentation photos, invoices, even reference where to find the tenant's liability in the tenancy agreement.

Now managing the properties myself, I intend to use a different deposit scheme. I'll be really interested if other replies report a better experience with the others.

Both my claims for full deposit to be paid to me were upheld by the DPS. One was a month's unpaid rent, the other was a couple of months and damages. Yes the delay to give the miscreants time to dispute it was irritating, but I wonder how the alternative organisations work.

Certainly demand a guarantor, but I am of the opinion that demanding a deposit as well separates the sheep from the goats in terms of financial resilience.