Picture Your Inventory
Most property landlords will understand the stresses and strains when it comes to the end of a tenancy. So one national company, The Video Inventory Agency, is trying to put an end to any potential dispute by offering landlords a video based inventory package.
Even if the rent’s been paid on time, the tenants have behaved themselves and the property is in one piece, there comes that difficult time when politeness is often forgotten, memories dim and the who-said-what game starts. It’s the handing back of the property and all its bits and pieces.
Let’s take that red wine carpet stain on the carpet in the living room. The tenants might have tried their utmost to dislodge it with salt, the vacuum and all sorts of mother’s remedies, but the last resort is often to cross their fingers and claim it was there all along. So what is a landlord meant to do when faced with such innocence from their tenants? In the old days, it was simple; they had the option of deducting the cost of professional cleaning, or indeed a replacement, from the tenant’s deposit, which they held. Cruel maybe, but the power lay with the landlord.
In 2007 that power switched to the tenant. Since the launch of the Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme, deposits are now held by one of the three regulatory bodies which decide if a landlord has a rightful claim over a tenant’s deposit. And with the onus heavily on the landlord to prove they are at a financial loss after a tenancy, most cases of disagreement that come up before the regulatory bodies are found in favour of tenant.
This is why The Video Inventory Agency has stepped in with what they believe is the perfect answer to all potential landlord/tenant disputes: video evidence. It has been proved that few tenants even consider objecting if they know that a professional, third-party prepared written inventory with video evidence exists.
The Video Inventory Agency has, since the introduction of the Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme, helped numerous landlords up and down the country avoid the pitfalls of either having no inventory, or a poorly prepared written inventory. And because The Video Inventory Agency has streamlined its recording and production processes the cost is no more than a traditional written inventory.
Frazer Fearnhead, the owner of the specialist inventory firm which has its headquarters in Altrincham, has learnt the hard way, as a landlord himself, that if things are not crystal clear at the start of a tenancy, then it will be as clear as mud at the end. He said:
“Most tenancy agreements start well. The landlord strives to hand over a presentable, well-maintained property and the well-intentioned tenant hands over a deposit and the first few months rent. Minds rarely stray to the potential arguments at the end. Unfortunately, its human nature, and this is true for the landlord as well as the tenant, to not to be outdone when a lease comes to an end. Even with the fairest people involved, slight problems quickly escalate into heated arguments and from there into potential court actions.
“I started The Video Inventory Agency to put a stop to all that. We prepare an independent written inventory which is supported at its key points by video evidence and our professionally trained inventory clerks employ the same procedures as the police use to record crime scenes.”
It may be an unfortunate fact of life that so many tenancies end in acrimony, but The Video Inventory Agency firmly believes that with the greater use of video evidence, that particular landlord hardship will soon be eased.
Frazer Fearnhead
The Video Inventory Agency Ltd
Dir. Tel 0845 230 5192
