Landlords offered inventory advice

Landlords have been advised to compile detailed inventories and call the professionals if they are unsure, rman.co.uk reports.

It is now a legal requirement for landlords to provide tenants with inventories, but also provides a document that can be relied on later down the line if there is a dispute between the two parties.

In light of this, spokesman for the Tenancy Deposit Scheme Malcolm Harrison advised landlords to not just ensure inventories are in place for all their properties to rent but also guarantee they are detailed enough to avoid confusion or arguments in the future.

An inventory is “absolutely vital”, Harrison told stride.co.uk as it “is not just about counting the number of spoons; it is also a condition report.”

He went on to suggest that landlords get tenants to sign the report off at the beginning of the tenancy as a true representation of what state the property was in when they took it on. After both the landlord and tenants sign the document, it can serve as a document which can be relied on by either party years later when the tenancy comes to an end.

This will not only make disputes more fair, but reduce the chance of them happening at all.

Harrison’s claims came after a report by Total Landlord Insurance found that as many as 65 per cent of buy-to-let landlords conducted their own inventories, which exposes them to greater risk of disputes than if they were to use independent third parties.