Landlords – remember inventories are a must

Landlords are facing increased rental arrears and void periods and need to make sure they take a proper inventory to avoid further drain on their finances.

According to the National Landlords Association (NLA), ‘Inventories are not an optional extra’.

By not taking a proper inventory at the start of a tenancy landlords are risking their money as when a tenancy ends, some landlords find they are faced with damage, cleaning or the cost of replacing furniture and fittings.

Whilst a tenant provides a deposit to cover such costs, tenancy deposit schemes, introduced in 2007, require landlords to provide evidence and justify witholding any of this deposit.

Inventories offer a way to record the condition of a let property at the start of the tenancy and show the condition at the end, as well as changes that have occured during the tenancy.

They can therefore be used to quickly resolve deposit negotiations and can also be used as evidence in a tenancy deposit adjudication process.

It’s not just inventories though that landlords need to think about. There’s also landlords insurance, specialist insurance for rented or let properties.

Standard home insurance is not adequate for rented properties – see our article ‘Landlords insurance – why is it needed?‘ if you want to know more

Alternatively, you can get a landlords insurance quote in  just a couple of minutes.