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Saving on inventories is a false economy claims trade body

Refusing to have a professional inventory on a property could be a false economy for landlords.

That’s the view of the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks which argues that although inventories are not yet compulsory, they are a necessary protective measure that can ultimately be financially beneficial.

Daniel Evans, chair of the AIIC and recently re-elected to serve again, explains: “One of the most damaging and widespread narratives in the property industry is that by not having an inventory carried out, you will save money. [But] in reality, no inventory means no financial safeguard. Without this essential record of the state of the property and its contents, landlords put themselves at risk of losing hefty sums of money.

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He adds: “The way to save money is not by being frugal, but by understanding the legal requirements needed to let a home and making sure that these are covered in the safest possible way. Inventories provide all parties with exactly this.”

Evans says landlords who conduct their own amateur inventories will inevitably miss some vital details and could be worse than no inventory at all in some circumstances - for example, a court case. 

He continues: “When you have a robust inventory, you will know exactly how the property was at the start of the tenancy and an unbiased comparison of how it is at the end can be made. When deposit disputes arise, landlords must successfully prove that losses and damage occurred during the tenancy to recover any costs. A trained inventory clerk will provide accurate descriptions and time and date stamped photographs that support this.

“The record of the walls, floor, fixtures, fittings, and items in the home will be so detailed they can only lead to an unbiased result.”

Want to comment on this story? If so...if any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals on any basis, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.

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    I take something like 500-750 high quality digital photographs, and provide a written list.
    Mine are much more detailed in terms of photographic evidence than the professional versions I've seen.
    By the time you get to claiming through the DPS I do wonder what the point is. The DPS seems to have a biased set of rules that only cater for low quality houses and the chance of getting any money out of them is very low.

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    The chances of getting much out of DPS even with a professional inventory is low, best to build something into the rent to cover latter problems

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    That way you avoid all the hassle and arguing.

     
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    When TDP was first introduced, I spoke with the adjudicators of all three Deposit Providers and asked them what they wanted when it came to tight, professional ISC's that would win every time for the landlord. They did not want videos or too many photographs but a full descriptive narrative leaving nothing to chance. Contrasting photos of before and after were encouraged but only where necessary. As such, i eventually found an inventory provider that would produce an ISC for a two-bedroom unfurnished property that would be 30+-pages long! Complete attention to detail and nothing left to chance. On the three occasions we had to present our side to the DPS in a dispute, we won every time, in fact, the tenants were blown out of the water. The adjudicators told me that if only landlords and agents spent more time preparing their paperwork correctly and professionally, they would win every time! You get out of it, what you put into it! For me, the ISC is THE most important piece of paperwork in any tenancy where you take a deposit!

  • George Dawes

    I had a tenant that painted all my lovely pine doors white , tried wriggling out by claiming they were antique so worthless 🤦‍♀️

    I replied so if that’s the case the Mona Lisa’s worthless as it’s old too.

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    They do that sort of thing to make the property "theirs".

     
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    Oh I do wish tenants wouldn't paint things they make such a mess

     
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    They painted my hardwood doors red, I might as well have used softwood.
    Another guy painted the whole room dark blue, incl’ ceiling, architrave. Skirting boards. Walls, door, smudged the double glazed windows with blue, me muggings had to restore all at my own cost.

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    I am so sympathetic Michael!

    It wouldn't have been so bad if they had painted the room a light colour, but trying to paint over a dark colour is very difficult.

     
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    Michael, I have to ask mate, why rent a lovely place with beautifully hard wood doors to tenants, any tenants, take the doors off and store them carefully in your garage give them cheap doors from B&Q which you can just burn, tenants have no taste and no respect for other peoples property, that's why they are tenants and not home owners, cheap and cheerful, B&Q, Wickes, Homebase and ebay all the way

     
    Zoe S

    What a nightmare that must’ve been Michael!
    I had a tenant that took it upon himself to build an enormous concrete patio in the front garden to accommodate his dog kennel, which was all done without my prior knowledge or permission.

     
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    Big problem is that the cost of preparing a claim is very expensive and the deposit is too small to make up for it.

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    The Deposit used to be to protect the property, now it’s all about protecting the Deposit it self. Pointless just minding it for them and used to undermine S.21, it’s now a liability and administrative head ache courtesy on Shelter.

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    As I said earlies just put it on the rent, in essence operating our insurance

     
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    The big problem is that people are being led to believe that their is a huge pot of money from letting property out that can pay for all these things. The government charges vat on letting fees, and lots of other services, it's a big chunk out of the letting costs !

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    True, but as with any business when costs / risks increase so the end price increases, as much as we would like to keep rents low we simply cannot do so, the money has to come from somewhere to cover all these government imposed costs

     
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