Whilst it may have taken a few years to filter through the entire country, for the most part, the majority of Landlords and Letting Agents now agree that Inventories, Check-Ins and Check-Outs are essential tools for managing and protecting a property. That said, the importance of professional, detailed Property Visits often falls by the wayside unfortunately. Kate Campbell-Balcombe from Inventories Everywhere, explains why the value of Property Visits should never be underestimated.
Once the keys have been handed over to a Tenant and the Check-In document has been signed sealed and delivered, an element of faith and hope kick in to play that the Tenant will act responsibly and respectfully to the property during the course of the tenancy. At this point, there are two options – rely on this faith and hope, or instruct regular Property Visits to be undertaken at the property to check that this is actually the case.
It is estimated that only 50% of tenancies have regular property visits, which completely astounds me as surely every single Landlord and Letting Agent throughout the country must have heard, or been witness, to a tenancy where the property was treated with neglect that went without notice due to a lack of regular Visits......just think of all the money that could have been saved if Property Visits had of been carried out and the situation picked up sooner than the end of tenancy.
Property Visits should not, however, just be considered as a method for determining Tenant breaches, they should also provide a clear opportunity for the Tenant to discuss freely any concerns which they have with the property and this is where, in my opinion, the process of outsourcing Property Visits to companies such as Inventories Everywhere really is valuable. It is simply human nature for people to shy away from talking freely about their concerns, or accidents that may have happened, to people who ultimately have an element of control over their future, such Landlords and Agent whom have the ability to serve notice. Tenants know our Clerks are independent and they tend to like that - at least 5 different Clerks have provided a shoulder to cry on whilst the Tenants have ‘owned up’ to accidental damage that they haven’t yet reported to their Letting Agent last month!
Arranging Visits with Tenants, is not however, always an easy task and I can imagine that for Letting Agents whom select to do this in-house rather than outsource to a company such as Inventories Everywhere, it must be hard for them to sometimes find the time to organise the same. Even over the last 4-5 weeks, our Clients have been amazed at the number of Visits we have actually been able to make and complete, especially in cases where they themselves often find the Tenants fairly non-responsive! There are two reasons for this, firstly, we have developed a very streamlined process that everyone follows and secondly, as we are an ‘independent third party’ Tenants often feel more comfortable allowing us in to their homes, than they would their Landlord and/or Letting Agent.
I know that some Landlords and Letting Agents can be put off outsourcing their Property Visits due to costs; at Inventories Everywhere we have completely taken this on board and offer a very and competitive charge for the same. Our Reports include digital photographs, a review of the exterior of the property (such as guttering, tiles and soffits) as well as an interior overview, which includes comments as to whether redecoration should be considered.
Regular Property Visits are very useful tools in the quest against property damage, tenancy breaches, can halt problems before they actually become major issues and provide Tenant with a ‘voice’.
For more information about Inventories Everywhere, please visit www.inventorieseverywhere.co.uk or email Kate directly, kate@inventorieseverywhere.co.uk. We’d love to hear from you.
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