The majority of the inventories presented to deposit scheme adjudicators are not worth the paper they are written on, leading to landlords losing deposit cases, the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks has claimed.
The AIIC adds that most inventories would not stand up in court, were disputes to get that far.
The association claims that when there are disputes, many landlords and agents fail to present thorough and fully detailed inventories, copies of which have been given to the tenant at check-in and check-out and, ideally, signed by the tenant – although an unsigned inventory is still acceptable by deposit scheme adjudicators, if it is dated and proof is available that the document has been given to the tenant at time of check-in.
Pat Barber, chair of the AIIC, said: “It is so important for landlords to ensure they have all the right paperwork to present to adjudicators.
“Time and again we see landlords losing disputes because they fail to provide the right evidence to show that a tenant has damaged the property.
“It should always be remembered that the deposit is the tenant’s property until a landlord can prove justification for any deductions.”
Comments
@ray evans
"What advice do the actual deposit scheme adjudicators freely give or advertise for/to landlords/agents?"
In resopnse yo your question...
....TDS guidance documents:
https://www.tds.gb.com/agents-and-landlords-documents-and-forms.html
...and the monthly and quarterly adjudication digests: https://www.tds.gb.com/adjudication-digest.html
...and case studies
https://www.tds.gb.com/case-studies.html
...and FAQs
https://www.tds.gb.com/agents-faqs.html
...and adjudication workshops
https://www.tds.gb.com/latest-news/.html
Easy - go to the small claims court and win.
Forget the schemes as even when faced with a breach of the terms they just fluff over these and call damages 'fair wear and tear' which is a load of sphericals. These adjudicators are rubbish.
Had one ex-client wanting legitimate compensation and because his letting agent on that particular deal had shut down and the DPS could not get e reply they just handed over the deposit to the tenant. Shameful.
Get the inventory right first time its not hard just a bit time consuming.
They would say that, wouldn't they?
Nice free advertising '"puff"'
What advice do the actual deposit scheme adjudicators freely give or advertise for/to landlords/agents?,