Started a new tenancy, no inventory, implications for us as tenants?

Manual_Reversion

Hello all,

We moved into a flat about a month ago and have not yet had an inventory done, despite unreturned calls from us trying to arrange one. The lady who owns the place farms out the paperwork side of things to the letting agents, so she doesn't really have her finger on the pulse and, I suspect, is somewhat out of her depth.

My take on the situation is that it's not particularly in our interests to insist on an inventory in any case. Added to which, is there any value of doing an inventory some time after we've moved in? We could have done anything to the place in the meantime!

I wouldn't normally bother looking into this too much as we're good tenants and have been fortunate in having good Landlords, so things tend to just run themselves. However this lady is a tad neurotic and I wouldn't put it past her to try pulling a fast one on us at a later stage.

My basic (perhaps incorrect) stance is that an inventory is there to protect the Landlord, so that they may 'prove' condition at checkout is worse than condition at checkin, thereby legitimising any retention from deposit. The absence of a checkin inventory removes this layer of protection for the Landlord and it is not in our interests to chase them ad-infinitum to get it done, particularly a month later when it seems to me to be somewhat meaningless anyway.

Any thoughts/comments would be gratefully received, so thank you in advance.

BitterAndTwisted

I agree with you. Just to be on the safe-side I'd take some dated photographs of everything now.

The landlord or their agents have 14 days to confirm which of the deposit-protection schemes yours is held with. Have they done that yet?

If there's a gas-supply is there a current Gas Safety Cert?

Manual_Reversion

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I agree with you. Just to be on the safe-side I'd take some dated photographs of everything now.

The landlord or their agents have 14 days to confirm which of the deposit-protection schemes yours is held with. Have they done that yet?

If there's a gas-supply is there a current Gas Safety Cert?

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, all of the above is in order. We did our own five-page inventory when we obtained the keys.

I know full well that the Landlord will claim that the previous tenant's checkout inventory will suffice as our checkin inventory, in the absence of anything else!

BitterAndTwisted

Of course and why shouldn't they? Do you have reason to think that someone has been round in the interim and made the place dirty or stained and torn the carpets?

furndire

Its not a bad idea to take a dated video of the place, and anything you think is a bit iffy, zoom in on & say what you think. Keep it in a safe place though.

Manual_Reversion

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Of course and why shouldn't they? Do you have reason to think that someone has been round in the interim and made the place dirty or stained and torn the carpets?

I've no reason to think anybody has dirtied the place up.

It's more a point of principle really. As and when Landlord washes their hands of their responsibility to do a proper checkin inventory and instead resorts to claiming that the the previous tenants' checkout inventory will suffice, where is the transparency in that? Neither my wife nor I have seen it, let alone checked and signed it.

That said, it's a problem that doesn't exist at the moment.

BitterAndTwisted

Well, quite. And you haven't actually vacated the property with documentary proof that you've returned the property in the same or a better condition than you found it in.

Manual_Reversion

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Well, quite. And you haven't actually vacated the property with documentary proof that you've returned the property in the same or a better condition than you found it in.

Correct. We've only just moved in.

My assumption (open to test) is that the onus is on the Landlord to prove, via checkin/checkout inventory discrepancies, that they have valid claim on the deposit. If there is no agreed checkin inventory then there is no basis upon which to make claim on our deposit. Are you saying that we, as tenants, have equal responsibility in law to prove, via inventory, that we have returned the place in same or better condition, in order to retrieve our full deposit?

Apologies if I have the wrong end of the stick!

Yorkie1

Just checking - are you in England/Wales, or Scotland? The deposit rules are different in Scotland.

BitterAndTwisted

Manual_Reversion wrote: »

Correct. We've only just moved in.

My assumption (open to test) is that the onus is on the Landlord to prove, via checkin/checkout inventory discrepancies, that they have valid claim on the deposit. If there is no agreed checkin inventory then there is no basis upon which to make claim on our deposit. Are you saying that we, as tenants, have equal responsibility in law to prove, via inventory, that we have returned the place in same or better condition, in order to retrieve our full deposit?

Apologies if I have the wrong end of the stick!

I've already agreed with your assumption on post number two.

I was just advising you about what you could do to be doubly sure that the landlord wouldn't be able invent some spurious damage or breakages. It's up to whether you choose to act on them or not

martindow

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Of course and why shouldn't they? Do you have reason to think that someone has been round in the interim and made the place dirty or stained and torn the carpets?

But if the new T has not had sight of the previous checkout inventory they are unable to check the accuracy of the list of contents and the description of existing faults.