Tips For Protecting Your Rented Property
Tuesday 17th May 2022
Inventory reports are crucial if you are renting your property out to tenants as you would like to be protected should there be any damages caused to your property or its contents and you would like to raise a dispute at the end of the tenancy if either party does not come to an agreement on the discrepancies and deductions.
Tip 1:
If you are a private Landlord or if you are renting your property out through an agent, you should consider utilising the service of an independent inventory clerk, one that offers high-quality, detailed and unbiased reports. On most occasions, Letting Agents tend to recommend a cheap inventory services company as to avoid paying a lot of money for such service, however, as always, you get what you pay for i.e. poor quality images, irrelevant information or photographic evidence, incomplete or short descriptions that do not fully outline the condition of the property as a whole (walls, ceilings, flooring, worktops etc) and its contents (furniture, white goods, etc).
Should this occur, the likelihood of a dispute going in your favour is minimal as there is not any clear evidence to indicate any damages prior to the tenants moving into the property. Thus, a more clear and concise report will assist you and give you that peace of mind.
Inventory reports are essentially very detailed documents that protect Landlords and Tenants by describing the internal and external condition of a property prior to the start of the tenancy and one which will be followed by a Check-Out report at the end of the tenancy where both reports will be compared in order to distinguish any discrepancies be it fair and wear or tenant negligence issues - the report will enable the Landlord or Agent to apportion the liability for damages. This, therefore, means the Landlord or Agent can request for deductions to be made from the Tenant's deposit. Thus, having a report with good quality images and a reflective description explaining those images will be in your favour when claiming for damages.
Once the Inventory Report is conducted and compiled, the Tenant will be required to sign this document providing acknowledgment of its content and accepting responsibility for any issues that will arise that are not included in the report.
Tip 2:
It is not just the Inventory Report that plays a huge part in a tenancy, it is also imperative that periodic inspections are carried out throughout the tenancy to make sure that the property is very well looked after by the tenants. It is also a good opportunity for the Landlord to get an understanding as to what the property looks like now that the Tenants have moved in. In addition, it will also alert the Landlord of any issues that require attention early on as to avoid spending more money at a later stage when the issue/s deteriorate. Quite often, one of the main issues that do arise at some point through the tenancy is an issue with condensation/ mold. Although many properties are equipped with extractor fans in the bathroom, sometimes, these are not powerful enough to extract humidity thus the clerk may outline that a replacement is made to minimise condensation/ mold from appearing. Having said that, some properties do not have an extractor fan, which means opening the window is the only option. However, Tenants do not always do this. As a result, the Tenants must be given clear instructions that they must allow adequate ventilation as to avoid the appearance of mold as a result of condensation.
Tip 3:
As outlined above, the Check-Out is the final assessment that will be made on the property. This will allow the Landlord or Agent to understand the final condition of the property and its contents once the Tenants have moved out. The most common issues at the end of the tenancy relate to the cleanliness of the property.
To ensure that your property is protected, we advise that you ask your Letting Agent to arrange with us an End of Tenancy Clean and a Check-Out.