UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi all, after some advice concerning inventory procedures for a private rental. We've just moved out of a property which was a complete disaster. The landlord failed to carry out repairs and in the end we just had to get out as it was causing us so much stress. On check out, we attended with our copy of the inventory which had been provided to us by the rental agent at the beginning of the tenancy, and the landlord also had the same document. During the check out, the landlord made a comment to the rental agent that the quality of the photos/print quality on the inventory was very poor, and the rental agent replied saying yes it was, but she would send him some high quality copies of from the computer. Is this fair? It just seems that the only copy we were given was the original and At the end of the tenancy, when the landlord has actually bothered to look at it, he's decided it's not good enough, as he was making notes of tiny marks on  the wall etc which it's not possible to see whether they were there when we moved in or not?

Any advice would be appreciated

Forget about the Inventory angle, for a moment, at least.

Was a Deposit taken and was it properly protected in a Government-approved Scheme?

That is all you - really - need to know to be able to feel comfortable that your rights and interests will be protected, to an extent.

To elaborate a bit... there is the concept of fair wear-and-tear and of Dispute... if the Deposit was protected and you don't agree with any deductions the Landlord requests (not unilaterally decides upon - requests) then you can take it through the Scheme's ADR process. That will see you right... most Landlords would agree with the Tenant's perspective (unless it was obviously unreasonable) because the onus of evidence will be on them for the ADR process (so it's effort required there) and it will consume time as well. I know that I would just roll over (as a Landlord) unless it was obviously unreasonable.

So, let us know about your Deposit and we can try to guide you further...

Thanks for taking the time to reply...yes our deposit is in the DOC which is about the only thing the landlord has done correctly. I'm not bashing anyone unfairly, but we have had an awful time with him failing to do things properly and wanting everything done on the cheap. The house had a conservatory which was a headache from the start, we ended up being unable to use it as the professional we called in to look at it said it wasn't fit for purpose. It's been a nightmare. The landlord is wanting almost £3000 to cover cleaning costs and redecoration, none of which is needed?!

If the Deposit is protected (I'm not sure what the DOC is?) then just inform the Landlord that you do not agree to the deductions requested and you'd like to go to ADR.

Quite often that would make the Landlord immediately more reasonable.

https://www.depositprotection.com/im-a-tenant/i-want-to-know-more-about-disputes/
https://www.mydeposits.co.uk/tenants/raise-a-dispute/

This way you put things into the hands of an objective third party... which, hopefully, you'll like and the Landlord won't... of course, it could be the other way around.

Thanks I meant the DPS, we'll do that as we have teams of evidence to negate his claims. It's probably just delay tactics on his part 😳