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Help regarding inventories on rented property

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  • I am just about to rent out my property. I have left lots of things (clean mind) which I think might be helpful to the tennants especially if this is their first home including cooling racks and baking trays I am leaving pictures on the walls and mirrors on the wall. I would expect if the tennant didn't want to them they would have the good manners to put them in a box in the loft. Not throw them out!
    I would be really hurt and angry but more hurt that someone would throw my things out. What might be seen as junk to you, might not be junk to someone else.
    It should have been put on the inventory and to be honest, having the opinion that it wasn't so they can't prove it was there isn't giving a good impression as to your character.
    When making up my inventory, I said to my partner do I just write ceiling l light. He said no you need to describe it because someone could just replace it with a bulb and shade and you can't prove it was a different. I said surely no-one would do that, obviously I was wrong.
    :rotfl: l love this site!! :rotfl:
  • Geenie
    Geenie Posts: 1,213 Forumite
    I am just about to rent out my property. I have left lots of things (clean mind) which I think might be helpful to the tennants especially if this is their first home including cooling racks and baking trays I am leaving pictures on the walls and mirrors on the wall. I would expect if the tenant didn't want to them they would have the good manners to put them in a box in the loft. Not throw them out!
    I would be really hurt and angry but more hurt that someone would throw my things out. What might be seen as junk to you, might not be junk to someone else.
    It should have been put on the inventory and to be honest, having the opinion that it wasn't so they can't prove it was there isn't giving a good impression as to your character.
    When making up my inventory, I said to my partner do I just write ceiling l light. He said no you need to describe it because someone could just replace it with a bulb and shade and you can't prove it was a different. I said surely no-one would do that, obviously I was wrong.

    ellies angel, when letting out a property you have to detach yourself from anything personal. I say that because years of experience has shown me that what you care about is not what a tenant will do. Your choice of pictures will probably be taken down, as will all the other extras you leave in the property.

    I let places completely stripped bare, even when tenants have moved out and left stuff behind. The floors, walls etc are in pristine condition, as are the fixtures and fittings, but I remove all the nick nacks. My experience has been that they are not used, but other stuff is added if the place is let cluttered, and the result is a skip or two and days of clearing.

    Only put on the inventory things that are needed for the place. Don't use it as a reason to store or off load stuff you don't want. It isn't fair to leave your things for someone else to deal with because you think it might be useful to them. Ask before assuming.

    And photograph everything, copy and get signatures from your tenants. Good luck.


    "Life is difficult. Life is a series of problems. What makes life difficult is that the process of confronting and solving problems is a painful one." M Scott Peck. The Road Less Travelled.
  • franklee
    franklee Posts: 3,867 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic
    edited 25 August 2009 at 10:15PM
    I am just about to rent out my property. I have left lots of things (clean mind) which I think might be helpful to the tennants especially if this is their first home including cooling racks and baking trays I am leaving pictures on the walls and mirrors on the wall. I would expect if the tennant didn't want to them they would have the good manners to put them in a box in the loft. Not throw them out!
    I would be really hurt and angry but more hurt that someone would throw my things out. What might be seen as junk to you, might not be junk to someone else.
    It should have been put on the inventory and to be honest, having the opinion that it wasn't so they can't prove it was there isn't giving a good impression as to your character.
    When making up my inventory, I said to my partner do I just write ceiling l light. He said no you need to describe it because someone could just replace it with a bulb and shade and you can't prove it was a different. I said surely no-one would do that, obviously I was wrong.
    IMO it's a mistake to personalise a property to let unless it's a high end property in a market in which it's expected. My previous landlord did leave pictures on the walls and as they were of good quality and themed in line with the unique advantage of the flat I left them all up and appreciated them except for the one in the bathroom which I put away so as to avoid any damage to it from a steamy room.

    Contrast that to a previous let that was filled with tat (and documented on the inventory) that I had the pain of boxing up and setting out in the original positions at the end of the tenancy :rolleyes:

    IMO in most cases what a landlord really needs to do is to provide the essentials, bathroom mirror, cabinet, towel rails, selection of hooks and curtain rails, possibly curtains and leave the rest bare. In a small property the tenant wants to use the storage space that they are paying for to store their own tat, not the landlord's.

    If there are useful bits left but not on the inventory then they aren't there officially and the landlord should not mind about them, the implication is they are junk left by the previous tenant. Anything the landlord minds about should be on the inventory.

    Also the inventory needs to do more than describe the item, it also needs to describe the item's state of repair, document scratches etc, and farily document it's state of cleanliness, staining, wear etc.

    This place had everything listed as new which was a lie as that was only true before the previous tenant moved in. When I challenged it saying the inventory obviously hadn't been updated the agent emailed back they hadn't had time to update it :confused: We shall see what happens when I leave but I have the emails and a copy of the inventory I signed and returned containing notes saying that :)
  • wow, I am only leaving a large mirror and a picture in the living room..... the cooling rack and baking tray will be on the inventory. I am by no means leaving tat or because I can't be bothered moving it.

    Its not a small flat and has a fully floored empty loft which can easily store the picture and mirror should it not be to their taste.

    I am leasing my property fully furnished. My agents have given me a list of what the property should contain and a baking tray is on it!

    The poster of this thread was looking for advice because she had disposed of items from the house she was renting which weren't on the inventory and now she or her partner is worried.

    I was giving my opinion as someone who is about to lease her property out and the original thread seems to have been lost
    :rotfl: l love this site!! :rotfl:
  • katie07
    katie07 Posts: 180 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts
    Thanks for all your replies everyone.

    However,
    It should have been put on the inventory and to be honest, having the opinion that it wasn't so they can't prove it was there isn't giving a good impression as to your character.

    I really resent this comment! To say that my post causes you to question my character is downright rude to be honest! Our opinion was that as it wasn't on the inventory then it obviously wasn't wanted/needed etc, so we would be fine to get rid. If it was on the inventory then of course we would've kept it. For example, there were a number of absolutely horrible wood carvings on the wall in the living room. They came straight down, but we have put them in the 1 cupboard we have as they were a) on the inventory and b) obviously a treasured item of the LL's.

    To the poster suggesting things are put in a box and kept out of the way - this was my initial thought too, however we soon found there was actually nowhere we could keep this junk without it cluttering the flat or getting in the way. We are in a ground floor maisonette, and there is next to nothing in the way of storage space. We have a cupboard which houses a washing machine but that is not big enough to fit the junk.

    And can I just re-iterate that these items are DEFINITELY not treasured possessions, or of any real value. I'd also like to point out that the inventory also had a few items listed that wouldn't need replacing or repairing if they 'failed'. These were mostly electrical items (iron, speakers, kettle) So the LA is clearly aware that there were some items there that weren't of any real value, or of any necessity to keep.

    Anyway, thanks for all your replies. I'm fairly confident this isn't worth worrying about. Sorry if it's caused any one any ill feeling but we were only doing what we thought was fair! As someone mentioned - who wants to fill their house up with other peoples' tat when you've got plenty of your own?!

    Thanks guys

    Katie x
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