UK Landlord Forum / Life

My tenant is moving out at the end of their tenancy and the agent has asked for £180 fee for the inventory checkout from them.
I never instructed anyone to prepare an inventory on checkin. The tenant is asking to see the inventory but it does'nt exist.
I manage the property myself and only used the agent to find a suitable tenant and renew contracts.
Can they legally ask for this if it wasnt carried out in the first place.

It is written in the contract that they will have to pay at the end of the tenancy, something I probably should have picked up on earlier.
Wanted some advice before I contact the agency.

Thanks

You’re right it can’t be charged for.

What could happen is the tenant should refuse to pay.
You/agent try to claim it from the deposit (who holds the deposit?)
The tenant disputes
It goes to arbitration and you will 101% lose.

Tell the agent they are being ridiculous....they need to produce the check in report to have any hope of charging for a check out report.  Sounds like an admin error no one could be that daft/mischievous.

There could be another option of staying out of it and just seeing what unfolds. I mean, if you control the Deposit, then it's in your gift to give back what you deem appropriate (if agreed and all done nicely) and the professional fee being requested by the Agent (although representing you) is being requested of the Tenant - the fee wouldn't go to you, nor any portion of it. I would probably not step in at this stage, and I would say to the Tenant that this is an Agent's fee, that you have no involvement with, that you're free to dispute with them. All the other stuff about it being kinda impossible to do a Check-Out report without a Check-In report / Inventory to compare against is sound.

The fact that you are self-managing probably implies the Agent is trying it on... worth them asking isn't it, if you have a chance of getting £180 for an email or phone call - you can kinda understand it. I would think they'd back down after receiving a very firm refusal (based on logic).

You should always have an Inventory.

Thanks for the replies. The tenants have been really good in looking after the place so I don't want the agent taking advantage of them.
The agent looks after the deposit and say they will deduct this fee from that.

let you know how it turns out.

Quote from: fingers006 on February 12, 2019, 08:02:21 AMThe agent looks after the deposit and say they will deduct this fee from that.

Well... strictly speaking... you're not doing full management yourself, then... I mean, they did a little more for you than just Tenant Find (even though that might be what you wanted and what you thought you'd signed up for).

So, what they're banking on then... is that the Tenant will protest, you'll protest, they'll just dip their fingers into the Deposit, and - probably - that you two will be left fighting it out (when that's exactly what you've stated you don't want), or you'll swallow the cost and be left beating your head against [their] brick wall. Nice work if you can get it.

A good advertisement (another, don't worry, you're not alone) for Landlords looking after the Deposits themselves... any leverage they had would have evaporated if that was the case. That said, you never know, they might see reason... they might want your business for Tenant Find next time around... if so, consider protecting the Deposit yourself.

Quote from: fingers006 on February 11, 2019, 08:09:05 PM
It is written in the contract that they will have to pay at the end of the tenancy, something I probably should have picked up on earlier.
Wanted some advice before I contact the agency.

Does it actually say in the contract what the fee would be, and did the tenant also complied with the requirement to lists the exact fees that would be charge on their website and business location? Tell the tenant (not in writing) to dispute it.

So, tenant asked the agency for the checkin inventory and got the reply back saying there would be no charge as there was no checkin.
Looks like if they had'nt questioned it, then the agent would have just deducted it from their deposit for sure.

And all's well that ends...