The National Federation of Property Professionals NFOPP has produced some video guides on renting in the UK.
Click on the title to watch the videos:
- All about tenancies
- Deposit Protection
- Understanding your Energy Performance Certificate
- Inventories
- Why choose an ARLA agent?
Always take photographs before you move in!
These photos could become an important piece of evidence when you are claiming back your deposit at the end of the tenancy. You will never know which details your landlord will be looking at, so we would advise you to back your check-in inventory list with the visuals just in case.
Take photos of:
- each room from a few different angles;
- unclean spots, changed colours, broken furniture, and everything that seems not quite right.
It is very important to make sure:
- to take photos before signing the agreement or taking the keys – you want to add them to the inventory list which you will be handing to the landlord to sign;
- the photos should reflect the exact state in which you are receiving the rental. If some furniture piece is going to be removed after you move in – make sure it’s written down on the inventory list.
Advice inspired by Rentergirl’s writing in Guardian: Moving out can mean it’s curtains for common sense
Inventory Providers are professionals, who’s job is to document the full description of the property and everything in it. The service is intended for landlords, agents or even tenants, who do not have time or knowledge to put together a complete report for a property that is being rented out. The inventory providers can be ordered for a regular “inventory report”, a “check-in report” or a “check-out report”. Some of them have invented more interesting reasons, like “mid-term report” or a “snagging report”. The letting agents used to do this but now that ARLA, too, is setting up an association APIP, we’re not sure where this is going.
Here is a couple of Inventory Providers in London:
Property Inventories
Inventory preparation for furnished 2-bed – £100
Check-in report for furnished 2-bed – £75
Check-out report for furnished 2-bed – £80
See an example of what you’ll be paying for HERE (*pdf).
Inis Inventories
Example of their inventory report HERE (*pdf)
We’re skeptical because the service is not cheap, yet the document they provide is quite basic, really (the template might need some work). We understand that ARLA is concerned about the incompetent people offering this service, as it is SO EASY to do. But shouldn’t they be concentrating on training the letting agents instead?
PS! There already IS an association for inventory providers in UK – Association of Independent Inventory Clerks AIIC.
