Legality updating checkout report (after checkout)

tenantwithissue

I have recently been informed about an issue with a tenancy checkout inventory by a relative of mine. The checkout report was completed by a company on behalf of the estate agent who was dealing with their rental checkout.

The estate agent provided my relative with the checkout inventory report a couple of days after they checked out lets say it was 10 November - all was fine and nothing major in the checkout report.

At some period between recieving this checkout inventory report from the estate agent and the landlord refunding the deposit lets say 20 November the checkout inventory was updated with additional information, this was provided then by the LL. However the said inventory was still dated with the checkout date, was still signed etc. This looks to be clearly fraud.

Is this legal, and is there an issue of fraud that we can pick up with the estate agent, the inventory company or the landlord?

We are beyond angry that a LL and an inventory company or estate agent can do this...

Please advise":money:

G_M

Forget fraud - you'll never get the police interested, and if you did, the CPS would never prosecute.

But if you raise a dispute over the deducions via the relevant deposit scheme, the landlord wuld have a hard time justifying the elements he'd changed.

see

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

anselld

tenantwithissue wrote: »

I have recently been informed about an issue with a tenancy checkout inventory by a relative of mine. The checkout report was completed by a company on behalf of the estate agent who was dealing with their rental checkout.

The estate agent provided my relative with the checkout inventory report a couple of days after they checked out lets say it was 10 November - all was fine and nothing major in the checkout report.

At some period between recieving this checkout inventory report from the estate agent and the landlord refunding the deposit lets say 20 November the checkout inventory was updated with additional information, this was provided then by the LL. However the said inventory was still dated with the checkout date, was still signed etc. This looks to be clearly fraud.

Is this legal, and is there an issue of fraud that we can pick up with the estate agent, the inventory company or the landlord?

We are beyond angry that a LL and an inventory company or estate agent can do this...

Please advise":money:

“Beyond angry” seems overly dramatic.

Additional information sometimes comes to light after checkout. True, it should not be misrepresented as arising from the checkout clerk if it in fact come from the Landlord but it may still be relevant.

Advise relative to dispute via the scheme if they are not happy with deductions.

FBaby

Did they refund the deposit then? If so, I can't see why it would be an issue one way or the other.

If the case has gone to the dispute stage, then clearly this won't go in their favour. Ideally, the LL should do the checkout on the last day with the tenant. Letting agencies can do a terrible job with it, mainly because most of them won't bother to look at the check-in report and do a comparison. The LL is entitled to do a second checkout, but they would have to justify why they did so, and show evidence that the check-out/pictures were taken shortly after the tenant leaving, and that it would be highly unlikely that no-one else could have come in between and caused the damage.

Adding things to the initial check-out and trying to pass it as the original one is a very stupid idea and if pointed out by the tenant (with evidence of the original, signed checkout), the adjudicator is likely to be much more suspicious of the LL's claims. .

Pixie5740

I am glad the OP has been quoted for prosperity because this is the OP's 3rd thread regarding the deposit and OP has a nasty habit of deleting their all posts after receiving advice. tenantwithissues would seem a more apt user name.