Abbey Estates

TDS Moving Ahead

The wide ranging review carried out by the Tenancy Deposit Scheme since the beginning of the year has led to improved methods for resolving tenancy deposit disputes. These, coupled to the return of a small number of external adjudicators, have already achieved a rate of over 80% of all disputes being resolved within four weeks. As a result of these changes, 1,123 disputes were resolved in May and 1,582 had already been resolved by the time of the June Board meeting last week.

The successful speed up in dispute resolution comes from new methods that ensure that the way cases are examined is proportionate to their complexity and value, instead of using the one-size-fits-all methods of before.  “This has led directly to the improvement in the quality and quantity of adjudication and has helped with monitoring the consistency of our decision making,” said Michael Morgan, Acting Head of Adjudication at TDS.

The new methods and the results will be subject to audit in the autumn.

Together with the new methods for dispute resolution, the return to using external adjudicators to back-up the in-house team provides extra dedicated and flexible resources. This enables TDS  to meet the constant variations in demand on the system and is expected to ensure the continuing efficiency of dispute resolution.                                                                                               

The TDS Board also heard that decisions about a new Chief Executive and the User Group should be finalised by the end of the summer.

 “I think the first months of this financial year have been very productive and auger well for cost effectiveness, user satisfaction and the future of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme,” commented Chairman Martin Partington.

6^th April Changes For PIQs and Searches

Don’t worry we have made it easy.

6^th April is fast approaching and there are 2 BIG changes to the way we compile HIPs we need to tell you about:

• A Property Information Questionnaire will need to be included in every HIP pack
• The cost of Searches will change for all HIP providers

We have gone to great lengths to make sure that using the Abbey Estates system is still the easiest and quickest way to make sure you are compliant.

The Government has announced that the current arrangements for producing Home Information Packs (HIPs) will remain in force until April next year.

On 6th April 2009, the Government is introducing a number of changes to the HIP process which they claim will ensure home movers receive more useful information during the buying and selling process. The main changes are as follows:

1. All HIPs marketed after April 6th must include a ‘Property Information Questionnaire’ – this is being introduced to provide basic information about a property for a home buyer.

2. A basic HIP must be available before a property is marketed – the temporary ‘first day marketing’ provision will be removed, providing certainty to home movers that a HIP will be available. This will not prevent agents advising clients about properties they expect to be coming on to the market.

Additionally, from January 1st 2009, the current arrangement for Leasehold HIPs - whereby a copy of the Lease is the only additional requirement when producing a Leasehold HIP - will be made permanent.