tenants and Court Proceedings

Tenancy Deposits

I have read in the Forum recently that one member at least has been advised "to carry out works or risk being taken to Court"
As one who recently has suffered just such an injustice and "won" can sympathize at the prospect This cost me £6000 in solicitors charges apart from a spoilt 12 months with the aggro.up untill the hearing.
I now have a former tenant - I was glad to see the back of - threatning Court proceedings for 3 X value of deposit which was not registered within the 14 days owing to a mix up with the letting agents.
It seems impossible to find anyone able to give clear guidlines about these procedings other than I do have a "good case" to counterclaim for damages whilst he was in occupation - but who wants to spend time with all of that (and unlikely to recover anything anyway)
It never ends and I believe that it is high time Landlords united effectivly for a fairer deal all round - it seems that just about every body is sympathetic to the tenants many of whom are giving Landlords absolute hell.
At the present time I am fortunate in having good tenants who appear most civilized but for the rest of all ages and background that one has had to put up with I cannot say the same. I have found insurance companies very difficult when it comes to making claims and have never yet been able to recover any damages through my cover - even legal cover claims were rejected I have consulted the Ombudsman but hold out no hope as to recovering the costs.
Would it be a good idea if the RLA extended its services so that members - maybe for an extra payment - would be able to receive direct legal help in such matters and even be represented - surely solicitors and legal executives could be employed in "areas" by the RLA so that members could receive immediate assistance - the CAB are not helpful and twice refused to even see me "as I was a landlord and in business" thier "priority" being to "tenants" being "evicted by landlords" this cannot be right can it ??
Apart from the RLA and Landlord Assoc."on line" I am not aware of any help being given to landlords. there are a couple of lawyers on line who do specialize in landlord/tenant matters but one has to enroll and pay fees upfront - whilst there is clearly an urgent need for the legislation to be changed on a number of issues.(including the tenants deposits) I do not think it is good enough for landlords to be advised that this is just "a new piece of legislation" and "they must get used to the procedure"