Letting agent calls for TDS to show common sense

News Category: Industry News

Cambridgeshire letting agent Ian Sanford has reacted angrily over a response he received from the Dispute Service – the body that is responsible for the Tenants Deposit Service.

As reported by EAT last week, Sanford wrote to the TDS chairman, Martin Partington, raising several points, in particular highlighting that it costs tenants nothing to raise a dispute, no matter how vexatious.

Sanford, managing director of Pennington Properties in Huntingdon, was infuriated to get a reply, not from Partington but from a member of staff.

He has written back to Professor Partington saying: “Although I appreciate her prompt response, when I write a letter I expect a reply from the person I have written to, or at least confirmation that the intended recipient has had sight of the letter rather than it apparently being intercepted and replied to, without addressing many of the points I have raised, and which are certainly not addressed under the ‘frequently asked questions’ section of your website!

“She mentions that costs are incurred by TDS as soon as a dispute is received. However, such costs must be relatively minimal at that stage and only escalate once the dispute is passed for adjudication. Certainly the financial problems that TDS suffered in previous years were acerbated by the fact that external adjudicators were being employed at, I understand, £50 per hour.

“The point I am trying to make is that, if members were consulted by email at the time that TDS receives a dispute, it is quite possible that many so-called disputes could be resolved at that stage. However, the rigidity of your system does not seem to allow for a common-sense approach and everything appears to be done by rote.

“I am fully aware that the current legislation does not allow charging, but surely it is up to TDS to advise CLG of flaws in the legislation rather than blindly continuing until enough members vote with their feet to the point that TDS can no longer survive financially, particularly with contracts being due for review in 2012.

“I would also point out that we are described by TDS as ‘Members’ which implies that we have a say in how TDS is run. Perhaps it is time that an agent’s representative was co-opted on to the board to provide some insight into the problems we are experiencing with the present system.”


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