Are your property inspection reports up to scratch?

I am often guilty of this myself, where I think I am the bees’ knees in all walks of life; whether I think I am good at playing football, or good at cooking or good at driving a car. I am sure some people might get defensive (myself included) or not listen when someone tells you how to do something better! Or they tell you how they would have done it differently.

The majority of the time, you might shut them off or not listen to them because you know your way is best! But is your way best? Some people don’t like being told what to do as they think their way is best no matter what.

I quite often get letting agents, inventory clerks and property managers asking questions about the property inspection reports they are creating. Questions such as: ‘How many photos should I take?’ or ‘Should I record the colour of the wall?’ and ‘Should I get my tenant to sign the report?’

Obviously, I am a very nice person, so from the experience I have I offer all the help I can. But I think it’s really important to participate in some sort of industry property reporting training or courses, so you can get a real feel of what the industry expects from property inspectors when creating property inspection reports, rather than making up your own assumptions.

You often see people who are in well-paid jobs roles wanting to develop their skills and keep sharpening their pencil. I often wonder what the motivation is around this because they are already successful at what they do. But then it struck me that you don’t want to be left behind and be stuck in the same routine when it might not necessarily be right. So, I think it’s important people should update themselves to ensure they are up to speed. This can also be the same for your property inspection reports.

We have a passion and drive to help improve the quality of property inspection reports in the private rented sector. Inventory Hive was created around five years ago when founder, Richard Abbots, had a bad experience as a tenant because the inspection report he was given was basically done on a back of a cigarette packet.

He wanted to help improve that and come up with something which stopped such things from happening, to ensure letting agents, landlords and tenants would receive much-improved inspection reports.

As part of our partnership with The Dispute Service (TDS) to raise standards in the PRS, we thought it would be beneficial for the private rents sector to create some on-demand training sessions to help improve pre-tenancy activity and inventory check-in as well as mid-term visits and end of tenancy check-out. When completing all the relevant courses, then you will be awarded with your Tenancy Deposit Scheme Approved Accreditation. So not only are you sharpening your pencil to ensure your reports are up to scratch, but you will be rewarded for it as well!

There is a good sense of self satisfaction when you know the work you have created has been done to the best standards you can possibly manage.

To learn more about how to book on to these courses, then please click here.

*Mitch Handley is Marketing Director of Inventory Hive