Whether you are a landlord or a tenant, if you are renting a property, you will need to carry out an inventory to record the condition of the property before the start of a tenancy.
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So who should do the inventory? Is it mandatory to contract a professional inventory company for your property inventory?
No, not at all, in fact, you could do it yourself using online templates but before you decide to follow this path, here are 7 benefits of using a professional body to carry an inventory report that will not fail you.
01. They know what to look for
A qualified inventory clerk is trained to capture the condition of a given property and will know how to report the condition of an item with clarity and relevant evidence.
They are trained to methodically inspect a property and they know what areas are most subject to wear and tear and damages.
The expertise of a professional inventory clerk in dealing with new and used properties will be critical in mitigating future disputes.
Professional inventory companies are most likely to be better informed about recent regulation changes and can help confirm the property complies with the latest safety regulations.
02. High level of detail and relevant data
Capturing data for a property condition report may seem like an easy task. You just note down what you see and take a few photos. Yes, it's as simple as that but what differentiates amateur reporting from professional ones is the quality and angle of the photos and the technicality of the item descriptions.
If a dispute arises at the end of tenancy, the lack of photos and detailed descriptions will impact the ability to make any claims on both ends.
What often happens with amateur reports is that they often lack depth in data. This makes reports very hard to use as a solid and trusted base for comparison. A property owner, will just take a few photos, sometimes even blurry ones and not frame the whole object or surface (because it takes time) and simply mark down a few notes as records and use this as a reference point.
While this looks like it could do the job, if a dispute arises at the end of tenancy, the lack of photos and clear and detailed descriptions will impact the ability to make any claims on both ends.
Professional Property Inventory companies like hihouse know what matters to landlords, tenants and lettings managers. Their job is to capture the right amount of data for all the relevant items inside the property and provide accurate and rich descriptions to prevent any confusion and/or abusive claims.
03. Save time
An inventory takes time. Not 30 mins, not 1h, aim for at least 90mins or 2hrs and more for larger properties. And this is the average time it takes for a professional clerk to complete the work.
The time allows the clerk to thoroughly review the property and collect a complete set of information about its condition.
Investing in a professional inventory company will save you the hassle of spending too much time on this attention-heavy task and will ensure your condition report is done the right way, with the correct and relevant amount of data.
For an amateur clerk, the task may prove harder than anticipated. Without training and experience, the acts of looking for defects, taking photos and recording descriptions without methods and the correct habits will make the task on average 5 times longer than a trained clerk. The amateur report may not even produce the right accurate kind of content needed to build a solid condition report.
04. Save costs
A professional inventory will capture the present and accurate condition of an item. If the item is damaged during the tenancy, it will be clear to all that this happened during the tenancy and depending on the nature of the damage or fault, the right parties will be accountable for repairs.
This means landlords can reclaim costs from tenants in a rightful, fair and undisputed way if it is clearly assessed they are accountable for the repairs. Similarly, tenants can protect their wallets from landlords who are pushing to have them participate in the cost of replacing an item.
Your inventory done with hihouse will also inform you about an item that is in such a poor condition, or likely to develop further damage to the extent an early action may be more beneficial to all the parties.
05. Objective assessment and fairness
The problem with amateur reports completed by landlords is the question of independence. Their report may be biased from the start to put them in a favourable position at the end of a tenancy in the event of damage reclaims.
While this doesn't often, at hihouse, we have had to complete check-outs using reports made by landlords that not only lacked depth in data but also were dishonest about the condition of an item.
We have seen reports with poor photographs still showing a damages on an item while the description claimed it was in a brand new condition.
These fraudulent reports can heavily impact your wallets if, as a tenant, you are not careful and don't pay enough attention to the content of your inventory.
Do not sign an inventory report that you are not happy with.
With a professional company, an independent clerk will come and assess the condition of the property and ensure fairness and accountability for all the parties involved. As a tenant, you are unlikely to have issues if your rented property is protected with an independent report created by a professional body which also serves as a trusted and recognised document in the event of legal disputes.
06. Actionable content
The data a professional clerk collects can be used to raise flags about something faulty or damaged so that it can be addressed in time to avoid more serious concerns in the future.
Similarly, a qualified inventory company will check for specific item compliance, such as smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and tell you right away if a device needs to be replaced or not.
All of this helps protects tenants and provides landlords with the right tools to keep up-to-date and compliant with their legal obligations as property owners.
An amateur report may not pick up on these specificities and simply miss little discrepancies that may turn into larger issues.
07. Peace of mind and reliability
It is the job of professional inventory companies to run inventory reports on a daily basis. We are trained for it, we know how to make the best of them and ensure any parties involved get the benefits they deserve.
With hihouse, we make sure both landlords and tenants are happy with their condition report so that they can enjoy their tenancies without friction and benefit from smooth and easy end-of-tenancy transitions.
Your inventory report should be the key to maintaining good relationships at all times, so when you know you can fully rely on its content and the quality of its assessment, you are almost guaranteed to enjoy the perfect tenancy.
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