#AskTDS: "My landlord raised a dispute, can I counterclaim?"

At the end of a tenancy, before a dispute is raised, both parties should try to agree on any deductions before considering raising a dispute.  If your landlord or agent wishes to make a claim from the deposit, they should contact you with any proposed deductions, allowing both parties the opportunity to discuss and reach an agreement in how the deposit funds should be distributed.

In TDS NI Insured, if an agreement cannot be reached, the tenant can raise a dispute with TDS NI.  This needs to be done within 3 months of the end of the tenancy.

TDS NI Custodial operates in a slightly different way.  As the deposit funds are held by TDS NI, either the agent/landlord or the tenant can raise a repayment request indicating how the deposit should be repaid.  If the parties are unable to agree how the deposit is to be repaid, they have the option to use the TDS NI dispute resolution service. In this instance, before progressing to dispute resolution, the parties are asked to provide evidence to show that they have tried to reach an independent resolution.

After the agent or landlord has provided details of their claim against the deposit, it is sometimes the case that the tenant wishes to make a claim against the agent or landlord about issues that were encountered during their tenancy. This counterclaim cannot be considered by an adjudicator as TDS NI can only adjudicate on claims related to the protected deposit.  Therefore any issues raised by a tenant which are a counterclaim or a claim for ‘set-off’ will not be included in the adjudication decision.

A common example of this type of situation is where a tenant has stopped paying rent as they feel they should be awarded compensation for other matters arising during the tenancy such as a broken boiler.  If you stop paying your rent, your landlord can make a claim against your deposit for rent arrears. Within their evidence submission a tenant would not be able to rely on the broken boiler as grounds for not paying rent as this is a ‘set-off’ and an example of a tenant claim we would be unable to deal with.  This particular example does not affect your ability to use the court system for any independent claims, or to continue to negotiate with your landlord or agent separately.  

Tenancy Deposit Scheme Northern Ireland (TDSNI) is a government approved scheme for the protection of tenancy deposits; we offer both insured and custodial protection. We also provide fair adjudication for disputes that arise over the tenancy deposits that we protect.