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Most inventories 'would not stand up in court'

"The majority of the inventories presented to deposit scheme adjudicators are not worth the paper they are written on, leading to landlords losing deposit cases"

The Association of Independent Inventory Clerks.

I was disappointed but unsurprised to read the Association claims, that when there are disputes, many landlords and agents have failed to present thorough and fully detailed inventories.

A copy must be given to the tenant at check-in and check-out and ideally signed, although an unsigned inventory is still acceptable if proof is available that the document has been given to the tenant at the time of check-in.

The right paperwork must be provided to adjudicators otherwise landlords will lose disputes and this means a loss of money to fix the damage that has been done to their property investment.

It should always be remembered that the deposit is the tenant's property until a landlord can prove justification for any deductions.

At Chelton Brown our Property Managers that prepare the inventories are all ARLA trained and have had specific training on the preparation of inventories. In addition, they have attended courses put on by the TDS, which focussed on what evidentiary information would be required, should there be a dispute.

Our managed service includes a thorough inventory which is a detailed document which lists the condition of each room in the property with the additional support of 100+ photos (dependant on the size and condition of the property).

By applying some effort in to providing a document with sufficient photographic evidence could save a lot of stress and money in the long term for all parties involved. If you are unsure on carrying out an inventory yourself then please employ a fully trained ARLA regulated agent to do it for you.

Sali Brown

Chelton Brown M.D.

 


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