Updating post from Reddit.
Tenant has moved out early and has refused to pay the final month's rent, saying we can take it from the deposit. The deposit has already been used on the damage the tenant has left though.
I've stated we'll pursue through Small Claims and issued a Letter before Court with a deadline on.
Tenant has come back and requested we go through an ADR process. Is this appropriate? My understanding was that this was primarily used for deposit disputes for tenants vs landlords.
Gov website isn't clear whether this can be used in this scenario.
Happy to go down this route if it's appropriate.
Any advice?
If they have said to use the deposit for the final months rent, the tenant clearly hasn’t agreed to a deduction for damage. You need to claim that correctly via the scheme you used and the ADR is the correct route.
If you win that, they will have to pay the final moth rent as they have accepted they owe it. If they win, you have the deposit to claim it from.
I assume as part of the ADR you’ll present all of the damage and rent arrears and you’ll be made an award. I suspect that unless you have good records to show the damage, your award will just be the final months rent.
Has the DPS scheme ruled on the deductions from the deposit yet? You'll only have a realistic chance in court if their ruling was that there was insufficient money to cover damages+due rent.
They have. I'm now concerned with which is the better route small claims court or ADR. I can't even see a way to start a ADR process, but it states if a landlord turns this down, it can diminish any case brought to court (as it shows no attempt to settle)
It looks like you and tenant just agree to go to an ADR process. One way of doing it would be to ask DPS scheme to assess the full value of the claim and provide a number, if they'd be willing to do so.
It's pretty open-and-shut... tenant didn't try to arrange alternative occupier for you or anything?
I'm afraid I don't have the prior experience of this to properly advise I'm afraid.
What are the requirements of the ADR process? I thought rent had to be paid in full.
https://www.mydeposits.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Business-Guide-to-ADR.pdf
Under reasons we may reject a dispute.
Anyway If thats true. You may want to negotiate a little with the tenant on the costs of damage. The court process is long and their are some costs.
The court will likely went to see some evidence of you trying to resolve the issue before hand.
You might eventually get a judgement from the court for the outstanding rent but be aware it will not be a quick process and then you have to have it collected. Only you can decide if the amount of money is worth your time to collect it that way.