Inspections and inventories: check-in to check-out

An inventory is a dated record of a home’s condition and contents on the day a tenancy starts. Visits during the tenancy, with written notice, show how the home is being kept, and at check-out you compare the home with that first record.

Why record the condition

If you and your tenant ever disagree about damage or the deposit, a record made at the start is what you both compare with. A record your tenant has seen, and had the chance to comment on, is one you can both refer back to.

The app’s evidence file is your own record, not proof: the court decides what it shows.

The check-in record

Make the record on the first day, or as close to it as you can, ideally with your tenant there.

• Dated photos of each room: walls, floors, ceilings, windows, doors and fittings, and close-ups of any marks.
• The contents you provide, room by room, and the condition of each.
• A reading of each meter, with a photo of it.
• The keys you hand over, and how many of each.
• The smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, tested on the first day.

Give your tenant a copy, and ask them to tell you in writing of anything they think is wrong or missing. Keep their reply with the record.

Once the tenancy is in the app, record the check-in with Record Conversation on the property’s page. Choose In person under How, say who was there, and write what you went through and agreed under What was said or agreed. Add the inventory with Choose Attachment. Each entry takes one photo or PDF, so an inventory with many photos is best kept as one PDF. Then tap Save to Evidence File. The entry is dated, and can’t be altered afterwards.

For the alarms, tap Record Alarm Check under Alarms, below the list of alarms, and choose what you found for each one. When a new tenancy is about to begin, a card on the property’s page asks you to test the alarms on its first day.

The house guide can hold the rest for your tenant: Moving in for the meter readings, keys and bins on the first day, and Keys for which keys they have.

Visiting during the tenancy

You, or someone you authorise in writing, can enter to view the condition at reasonable times of day, on 24 hours’ written notice to the occupier.

Many landlords visit regularly, and more often in the first months of a new tenancy. No rule on how often to visit has been checked for the app.

It helps to suggest a time, and to agree it with your tenant. Even when they agree a time, it helps to give the written notice as well: whether an agreed time is enough on its own hasn’t been checked for the app.

The app doesn’t send a notice of a visit for an inspection. Write it yourself, and record how and when you gave it with Record Conversation. Whether an email or a text counts as that written notice hasn’t been checked for the app. Giving it on paper as well avoids the question. After the visit, record what you saw the same way, with a PDF of your photos if you took some.

What to look at

A visit is a chance to spot small problems before they grow.

• Leaks: under sinks, around the bath and shower, and at the boiler.
• Signs of damp or mould, and whether the windows and extractor fans work.
• The smoke and carbon monoxide alarms: press each test button.
• Anything unsafe: loose handrails, damaged sockets, cracked glass.
• Anything your tenant wants to show you.

Something that needs a repair goes in as a repair, with Log Repair, so it has its own dated record.

Respecting the home

It’s your tenant’s home. Ask before you go into a room, and keep the visit to what you came for. If a time doesn’t suit them, offer another, and don’t keep pressing. A short, friendly visit at a time you agreed makes the next one easier.

Check-out

At the end of the tenancy, go through the home with the check-in record in hand, room by room, ideally with your tenant there. Take dated photos from the same places as at check-in, so the two can be compared.

Expect some wear from ordinary everyday living, often called fair wear and tear. It helps to take into account how long the tenancy lasted, how many people lived there, and how old each item was.

Record the check-out with Record Conversation, and add your report with Choose Attachment. The tenancy’s evidence file then holds both records, in order. Print Evidence File prints the whole file.

What the law says

• You, or someone you authorise in writing, can enter to view the condition at reasonable times of day on 24 hours’ written notice to the occupier.
• Your tenant must allow access for repairs you are entitled to do. The Act states no notice period for that. GOV.UK recommends at least 24 hours’ written notice at reasonable hours, possibly shorter in an emergency.
• On the day a new tenancy begins, a smoke alarm on each storey used as living accommodation must be checked to be in proper working order. So must a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance, other than a gas cooker. Some tenancies are excluded.
• The evidence file is your own record. It isn’t proof, and the court decides what it shows.

For a particular tenancy, and anything this guide leaves open, take advice from a solicitor or Citizens Advice.