Do we need to have signed the inventory?

andweallshineon

I'm used to LLs/agents trying to unfairly screw us out of our deposits in the past. Once we rolled over, but later on we've been to the Dispute Service twice and won in full each time. One time the reason cited by TDS was that they hadn't provided an inventory.

This leads me to my question - we are looking at a house move again and preparing for this possibility again. We are always fair and spend a lot of time and money making the property nice at the end. On this occasion we did receive a check in inventory, however it arrived a week after we moved all our furniture and stuff in and so we had no way of checking it against the raw property to check there were no extra faults they'd missed out. We felt this was unfair so we did not sign and return it, and it was never mentioned.

If the agents were to try and keep some deposit for aspects we don't feel are our liability, would our unsigned inventory be accepted as evidence by TDS or would they reject it and act as if there was no inventory?

sandsni

Did you take (dated) photos of the property before you moved all your stuff in that shows the aspects you don't feel are your liability? In this case the LL/LA DID provide an inventory which you could have checked and amended as necessary, but chose not to for your own reasons. I don't think it could be seen as you NOT having received any inventory.

dgtazzman

I'd beg to differ. If it hasn't been signed by both parties, it isn't legally binding and they may as well not have made the inventory. It was the LL/LA's job to make sure the inventory was signed and returned, they neglected this, so too bad for them.

If inventories didn't have to be signed by both parties, what's stopping LL/LA's making them up at the end of the tenancy claiming at the start of the tenancy the toilets were solid gold and have been replaced by the tenant with normal ones, so to speak.

Also from my experience renting, the inventory is usually signed at the same time the letting agreement is signed with a clause that allows x amount of time to inform the LL/LA of any changes you want to make to the inventory.

moromir

Are you sure they didn't send any chase letters? If they can provide a paper trail showing they gave you ample time to check, make amendments and send it back, then the onus is firmly on you as they could make a good case for claiming it must be as written as you didn't tell them otherwise.