WHY USE A PROFESSIONAL INVENTORY

To have a professional inventory or not to have a professional inventory?  That is the question!

As a professional letting agent, we understand that the cost of paying for additional services, such as an Energy Performance Certificate, a gas safety certificate and a professional inventory can quickly add up.  Some landlords may think, ‘I’m not spending that much money on a professional inventory, all I have in there are carpets and a fridge, what’s the value to me to have an inventory’?

The value, and it is significant, is if your tenants do not look after the property and you end up with a damaged and neglected property and you have do not have a professional inventory in place to show the original in-going condition, then unfortunately, it is pretty much impossible now to retain money from a deposit.  In many cases, the cost to make good the property will far outweigh the cost of the inventory in the first place.

It is a continuous discussion (I don’t like to say I argue with my clients!) that sometimes we win and sometimes we don’t.  As letting agents who have dealt with a large portfolio of property, we have unfortunately seen the worst side of what can happen to a property and the consequences of not having a comprehensive, professional inventory in place.  This concern for our clients is why we are huge advocates of this service as we just do not want our clients to go through what can be a really upsetting experience of a seeing their property neglected and damaged and not being able to re-coup any of the money to remedy the situation.

It is hard to find a response to a landlord who says, ‘I have many properties I’ve been letting for years and have never had a problem using my own inventories’.  Well, luckily, most tenants do look after their rental property and treat is as they would their own and for our clients sake I hope this continues, but if it were my property, a professional inventory would be in my top three requirements when starting a tenancy.  The other two are the drawing up of a top quality tenancy agreement (I’m not talking WH Smiths own here) and a comprehensive Rent Protection policy, such as Homelet’s Rent Recovery Plus, which we provide as standard for all our clients when a new tenancy starts.

In our opinion and experience, we believe we use the best inventory clerks in the area.  They are independent, local, friendly and most importantly members of the AICC (Association of Independent inventory Clerks).  We believe they provide the most detailed, easy to read and comprehensive inventories, with full, photographic evidence, making the outgoing process as stress free and easy as possible.

If you have a property to let out, we at Latham Smith would be delighted to talk the process through with you and give you a fair valuation of your property.

Call us on 01923 447192 or email us at lettings@lathamsmith.co.uk, or take a look at our website www.lathamsmith.co.uk

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