Final inventory check - who is liable to pay for it?

tc6100

Just come to the end of a tenancy, we have handed in our notice and in order to get our deposit back my landlord is using the same company to do the final inventory check that he used to do the initial one. He says that we, as tenants, are liable to cover the cost of this, is he correct?

poppysarah

What does it say in your tenancy?

TBH Sounds like a ripoff to have to have a company to do it.

(Should I set up a company offering to eat chocolate bars for people too lazy to eat their own?)


EDIT: Tell him he's paying for it. For you to pay for it would be an unfair term. Your landlord should realise what being a landlord is and if he doesn't want to do it he should get out.

tc6100

Thanks, the problem with the tenancy agreement is that it has expired, so I'm not sure what bearing it has on further developments.

poppysarah

Well it's not so much expired as turned into a periodic tenancy.

You should prob ring shelter and get their official line on it - but I'd just tell the landlord NO.

Premier_2

Where a LL is using a third party agency (such as a LA) to carry out the inventory, the tenant often is required to pay for both the ingoing and outgoing cost of that inventory.

Did you pay for the ingoing inventory?

You should only pay the actual cost incurred, perhaps paying the agent directly. The LL should not be making any profit. If you have to pay the LL, ask for proof of the actual cost incurred, e.g. a receipt from the agent.

Remember that the inventory is for your benefit as well as the LL - if you don't pay you'll probably not get a copy.

Why is a third party being used? Why can't you and the LL go though the incoming inventory and agree whether the property is as let?

sooz

It does depend on what you signed in your initial agreement.
Normally, if an independent inventory clerk is used, one party pays for the incoming inventroy & the other party for the outgoing. That way you are both employing him/her so that there is no bias.

Procrastinator333

Am I missing something, but if every tenant pays on the way in and out, are they not being paid twice? Shouldnt' every tenant pay either on the way in or on the way out.

They surely don't do an inventory count when you leave, then after 2 weeks do anpother inventory check on a place that has been empty for the new tenant?

loulou41

Daughter had to pay £88 for the inventry and was told the LL will be paying when she leaves.

Loretta

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

Am I missing something, but if every tenant pays on the way in and out, are they not being paid twice? Shouldnt' every tenant pay either on the way in or on the way out.

They surely don't do an inventory count when you leave, then after 2 weeks do anpother inventory check on a place that has been empty for the new tenant?

Yes they do, that is perfectly normal

Procrastinator333

How strange! Another way to get every last £ out of you I guess....

Just checked my contract and yep, there it is... Only thing i'm not sure on is if we paid it when we moved in too (was 3 years ago).... I can't find a receipt for it, though I do have the receipt for the initial deposit and first months rent and it isn't on there.... Oh well, doesn't matter as I know I gotta pay it when we leave, sob....

prudryden

My contracts state that the LL pays for the initial inventory/condition report as provided by an independent clerk (as they are called). It further states that upon the end of the tenancy (tenant vacating), the tenant pays for the leaving report by the same independent clerk.
An independent clerk's report (as a non- biased professional agent) carries a lot of weight should a claim go to court (somewhat akin to an "expert witness". The last inventory report I had done for an unfurnished property was over 10 pages. It even registered all scratches on the light switches for heaven's sake.