What's the big deal with Tenancy deposits? The AIIC tells us...

The AIIC have just released the latest data sourced from the TDS regarding deposit returns at the end of tenancies.

Tenants are the overall winners in the race to claim a deposit at the end of a tenancy. 20.25% of tenants get the whole of their deposit returned as opposed to 18.21% of landlords hoping to claim a whole deposit.

The highest cause for complaint was cleaning which was disputed in 53% of adjudications. Damage claims totalled 46%, redecoration 29% and gardening 14%. The main reason that landlords fail to win their claims is lack of good detailed evidence. This has been a constant problem since the start of the deposit protection schemes in 2007, landlords are slow to learn it seems.

To greatly increase the chance of winning any claim firm evidence must be produced. This will include the tenancy agreement, the check in inventory – preferably signed by the tenant – and a good detailed unbiased check out report.

All the deposit schemes are aware of the problems of inventory documentation being produced by a landlord or an in house clerk since the resulting document “could be perceived to be biased”. The only safe way is to have these documents produced by a professional independent inventory clerk.

All AIIC members are regulated and must adhere to high standards. They must comply with the Code of Practice laid out by the membership organisation and clerks are required to be fully insured. Independent Clerks will produce a clear detailed inventory and check in and out report that will stand as vital evidence in any dispute.

For inventories in St Albans and Harpenden, we outsource all of our work to Busy Bee Inventories who comply fully with the codes of practice but also have been repeatedly lauded as the most detailed and best quality inventories money can buy. Can you afford NOT to use them?

Contact Susan at Busy Bee Inventories by clicking here.