Inventory: what to include and what not to

BitterAndTwisted

As usual Fire Fox is right but the OP is in the property now and it's a Bank Holiday weekend. I probably wouldn't want to hang about in a property which needs a thorough clean and wait a month of Sundays until the letting agents get off their bums to send someone round to do the inventory properly.

Fire_Fox

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

As usual Fire Fox is right but the OP is in the property now and it's a Bank Holiday weekend. I probably wouldn't want to hang about in a property which needs a thorough clean and wait a month of Sundays until the letting agents get off their bums to send someone round to do the inventory properly.

Thanks for the vote of confidence but I think we have all given good solid advice. I would personally only scrub the parts I needed to be clean (kitchen and bathroom) having first photographed: perhaps if you had little ones you'd need the rest of house cleaning. It would be nice if the inventory detailed the muck, but IMO it's more important that it details the state of repair, staining etc.

DVardysShadow

Fire_Fox wrote: »

This is a moneysaving website, why should the OP have to shell out for prints? The landlord and/ or the tenant will already have paid whichever admin fee covers a thorough inventory, why should he have to spend his bank holiday weekend doing this task? We are always asking tenants if there was a dual signed inventory, which the landlord needs to prove that any damage occurred during the tenants occupation.

Dare I say your concept of money saving on this veers towards being penny wise and pound foolish?

sequence in #29 explains the potential consequences of getting this wrong - in OP's position, I would prefer to be able to show how bad it was over the Landlord not being able to prove how good it was.

BitterandTwisted in #32 mentions the OP having to scrub out before the property is reinventoried. Taking note of the condition of things now will of course relieve the OP from having to scrub out at the end of the tenancy to bring the state up to the reinventoried state after OP has done his entry scrub out.

savvy

:spam: REPORTED!

Owain_Moneysaver

Never mind the last 2 months when the flat was unoccupied, if you don't have sight of the meter you could be liable for the last tenant's consumption if they/agent sent in estimated readings at the end of their tenancy.

dustinjames

thankyou all.

the letting agent is managing the property.
Does this mean i can not get in touch with the landlord(owner) directly?
the landlords details are in the documentation. Can i send him the inventory too?

email is not formal communication? damn, so sounds like we need
to re-draft the contracts and everything : the addresses are all messed up.
long trip to the agents, its not local......sigh.

ive taken so many pictures its gonna cost a FORTUNE to print these
from a printer shop.....im thinking make largish document in photoshop or indesign with all the pics on (smallish sizes) and so its more value for money..... sound ok? normal printed paper? or professional photographic glossy type prints?
does every pic need to be labelled and description written ?

professional inventory: who would pay for this?

neighbour of mine also said he can not see the meters(diff landlord/agent) and that he doesnt know whre they are.

sequence: oh my god....and you did not damage the place like they accused?

the state the flat is in, the agent must have asked for damages and cleaning expenses from previous tenant, its shocking. Nothing is cleaned, everything is sticky and greasy and smelly. Everything.

ive spent hours there, now taking a break. im exhausted.

im being descriptive, is this ok?
eg "filthy, inside and out, greasy, sticky, absolutely filthy, extreme dirt and germ build up, wonky, not secure, broken, working but feels like it will break soon with normal use, chunk missing, loose, stains that may be permanent cant tell, possibly permanent mark, marks = not sure if it will ever be shiny and spotless, one light bulb out of spot lights not working, toilet making constant hissing noise, paint stains on units, seams in between tiles dirty and stained, chipped, ..... serious signs of wear and tear, ....

i can write sentences, yeah?
the inventory agent done simply uses words like "good, soiled, new" ....
but i disagree on most of the "good" ratings. Im going to put "not good".

there are two things i dont know what they are.
this little box in the hallway inside (cant open it)
and a built in cupboard in bathroom which only will open with a special key, triangle shaped metal thing in side (no door knobs to open it). Im thinking one of these may be meters? the smaller box may be fuse box?

whose reponsibility is it to clean the place? Mine, now? at agents/landlords discretion ?

BitterAndTwisted

dustinjames wrote: »

thankyou all.

the letting agent is managing the property.
Does this mean i can not get in touch with the landlord(owner) directly?
the landlords details are in the documentation. Yes, you can.
Can i send him the inventory too? Yes, I would. IF the LL has a full repairing contract (i.e. the agents take care of it all rather than the LL themselves) then I think they should be interested in exactly what the agents are NOT doing for their fat fees.

email is not formal communication? damn, so sounds like we need
to re-draft the contracts and everything : the addresses are all messed up.
long trip to the agents, its not local......sigh.

ive taken so many pictures its gonna cost a FORTUNE to print these
from a printer shop.....im thinking make largish document in photoshop or indesign with all the pics on (smallish sizes) and so its more value for money..... sound ok? normal printed paper? or professional photographic glossy type prints? Is there a reason why you can't print these yourself? They don't have to be on glossy photographic paper or anything like that. They just need to be big enough adn of a reasonable quality to prove just how unsatisfactory the state of the property is to an impartial observer.
does every pic need to be labelled and description written ? Number them in the inventory and write the numbers on the back of the pics

professional inventory: who would pay for this? This should have been part of the service the agents are supplying to the landlord, I reckon.

neighbour of mine also said he can not see the meters(diff landlord/agent) and that he doesnt know whre they are.

sequence: oh my god....and you did not damage the place like they accused?

the state the flat is in, the agent must have asked for damages and cleaning expenses from previous tenant, its shocking. Nothing is cleaned, everything is sticky and greasy and smelly. Everything.

ive spent hours there, now taking a break. im exhausted.

im being descriptive, is this ok?
eg "filthy, inside and out, greasy, sticky, absolutely filthy, extreme dirt and germ build up, wonky, not secure, broken, working but feels like it will break soon with normal use, chunk missing, loose, stains that may be permanent cant tell, possibly permanent mark, marks = not sure if it will ever be shiny and spotless, one light bulb out of spot lights not working, toilet making constant hissing noise, paint stains on units, seams in between tiles dirty and stained, chipped, ..... serious signs of wear and tear, ....

i can write sentences, yeah? Of course you can but try and make your observations dispassionate and make no reference to what you think might happen. Use terms like "dirty", "grease build-up", "marked" and "not working"
the inventory agent done simply uses words like "good, soiled, new" ....
but i disagree on most of the "good" ratings. Im going to put "not good". Then use the term "fair" or "worn"

there are two things i dont know what they are.
this little box in the hallway inside (cant open it) Well, if you can't open it, don't. You could ask the agents what it is when they come round.
and a built in cupboard in bathroom which only will open with a special key, triangle shaped metal thing in side (no door knobs to open it). Im thinking one of these may be meters? the smaller box may be fuse box? Don't guess and don't try to open it. Ask the agents whether it's anything that you nedd to know about when they come round.

whose reponsibility is it to clean the place? Mine, now? at agents/landlords discretion ?

It should have been cleaned before you moved in so it's obviously not your responsibility.

If you'd like to post up your comments on the inventory before you send it off, I'm sure we can give you advice about what's appropriate. I'm a bit concerned about you giving your opinion rather than stating the bald facts.

Fire_Fox

dustinjames wrote: »

thankyou all.

the letting agent is managing the property.
Does this mean i can not get in touch with the landlord(owner) directly?
the landlords details are in the documentation. Can i send him the inventory too?

email is not formal communication? damn, so sounds like we need
to re-draft the contracts and everything : the addresses are all messed up.
long trip to the agents, its not local......sigh.

ive taken so many pictures its gonna cost a FORTUNE to print these
from a printer shop.....im thinking make largish document in photoshop or indesign with all the pics on (smallish sizes) and so its more value for money..... sound ok? normal printed paper? or professional photographic glossy type prints?
does every pic need to be labelled and description written ?

professional inventory: who would pay for this?

neighbour of mine also said he can not see the meters(diff landlord/agent) and that he doesnt know whre they are.

sequence: oh my god....and you did not damage the place like they accused?

the state the flat is in, the agent must have asked for damages and cleaning expenses from previous tenant, its shocking. Nothing is cleaned, everything is sticky and greasy and smelly. Everything.

ive spent hours there, now taking a break. im exhausted.

Not meaning to be rude, but do you have mental health issues, such as a tendency to stress/ anxiety?

Yes you can contact the landlord directly, if the letting agent are doing a rubbish job then you should contact the landlord. You do not need to visit the letting agency, recorded delivery is formal communication, less time consuming and probably cheaper.

The inventory is for the landlord's protection more than your own so it is usual for him to organise one. The letting agency probably should have done this but it's clear they have not bothered, if they want to come back and do a proper inventory let them crack on. You should check all your documentation to see what you have paid for or are expected to pay for, sometimes a tenant is expected to pay for the check out inventory.

dustinjames wrote: »

im being descriptive, is this ok?
eg "filthy, inside and out, greasy, sticky, absolutely filthy, extreme dirt and germ build up, wonky, not secure, broken, working but feels like it will break soon with normal use, chunk missing, loose, stains that may be permanent cant tell, possibly permanent mark, marks = not sure if it will ever be shiny and spotless, one light bulb out of spot lights not working, toilet making constant hissing noise, paint stains on units, seams in between tiles dirty and stained, chipped, ..... serious signs of wear and tear, ....

whose reponsibility is it to clean the place? Mine, now? at agents/landlords discretion ?

:eek: Doesn't sound that descriptive to me, you are going way over the top! How do you KNOW there are 'germs' (germs is not a technical term anyway)?? It is only absolutely filthy if it looks like Kim and Aggie material, I doubt you'd have agreed to rent somewhere that bad. If you have the flat will be uninhabitable so forget the inventory, forget the cleaning and call in Environmental Health. It's obviously difficult to be objective when this is to be your home, which is why I am suggesting the landlord/ letting agency are called back to do an accurate inventory.

anniecave

If you start a thread in the utilities - gas/electric section and explain your problem - that you've moved into a new place and can't find the electric meter and have tried phoning southern electric and they can't find your address

Then one of the kind folks over there may be able to look at the central electricity database and check your address out. You'll probably get more help from people on this forum for that sort of thing than if you phone up one of the suppliers and get someone at the other end who can't be bothered!

It could be newbuild within the last few years and not properly registered to any supplier, so you may not get a bill for some time anyway!

Slinky

You raised the question about metered water, we have a flat built in 1984 along with 60 others. There are no water meters, water is billed on the old 'rateable value' system. Yours may or may not be the same.