The implications of a releasing keys to tenants befor...

For the vast majority of lettings professionals, the thought of releasing keys to a tenant before an Inventory has been conducted would make them shudder, however, on occasions this practice can happen, especially towards the end of month when there is a rush for a tenancy to proceed.

There are many consequences to conducting an Inventory after a tenant has moved in, even if they have only been provided with keys to the property for a few hours. Take for instance the scenario of tenants collecting the keys on the basis that they are only allowed to store items in the garage until the Inventory Clerk arrives at the property. On the face of it, this doesn’t appear to be too much of a problem, however, in reality the tenants are likely to have removal vehicles parked on driveways, cars in parking bays etc – which means that the condition of these areas cannot be documented. The same would apply to the garage, the Clerk would be unable to ‘inspect’ the condition of the area and may furthermore miss valuable garden tools which need to be recorded on the Inventory. Worse still, if the tenants have ignored instructions and already gone inside the property, there is the risk that accidental damages have occurred which would be documented on the Inventory as already being present, whereas they may have actually been caused by the tenant. This would leave the landlord in the situation whereby he or she is unable to recover any compensation for the damage.

In a case where a tenant has been residing in a property for a number of days, when the Clerk comes to try to document the condition of the property, the tenants belongings are more than likely to be in the way – hampering the Clerks ability to complete a true and accurate Inventory Report, leaving the door wide open to deposit disputes at the end of the tenancy. Of course, there is also the issue of meter readings, as the readings taken on the day the Inventory being prepared would not be accurate.

In both scenarios above, is it likely that the landlord will be unhappy with the findings contained within the Inventory Report, resulting in a complaint. Inventories Everywhere would advise any letting agent being put in a position to rush through a new tenancy by their landlord to the extent that there is not enough time to have an inventory prepared, to ensure that their landlord signs some type of disclaimer before the tenancy proceeds, which highlights exactly the risks they could be exposing themselves too.

For more information about Inventories Everywhere, please contact info@inventorieseverywhere.co.uk