When renting out a property Watsons advise all landlords to take a deposit from the tenant prior to the tenancy starting. With our full management service we protect the deposit on behalf of the landlord and therefore would deal with any dilapidations at the end of the tenancy, The deposit offers a level of protection to landlords and means that should the tenant breach the terms of the tenancy agreement, such as causing damage or not paying rent, the appropriate deductions can be claimed from the deposit. If you do not have an agent or use an agent on a find a tenant basis deposit protection is not a scary as it sounds.
We use the Deposit Protection Service to protect our deposits, when you take a deposit it is a legal requirement to protect it. To be able to make a claim on the deposit at the end of the tenancy the advice given by the deposit protection service and by Watsons is to use a third party company to carry out an ingoing inventory, this company can then carry out a checkout on the last day of the tenancy it is this report that can be used to prove any claims made on the deposit.
This report provides evidence and dated stamped photographs to report property damage and poor cleanliness or anything that is different from the property’s original state
The top reasons in the last 12 months as to why Watsons needed to make deductions to the deposit are:
1) Cleaning issues
2) Stains or burns to carpets
3) Pet damage
4) Decoration
5) Missing items
Watsons advise on ways to avoid the above:
1) Always have a professional clean at the start of the tenancy this way you can produce an invoice to the level of cleanliness and this will be commented on in the inventory
2) Make sure you use an inventory company to record any conditions of items before the tenancy commences
3) Think about what pets you might allow and the damage they can cause, we always take an additional deposit if the tenant has a pet.
4) Same as point 2
5) All items are listed and photographed in the inventory and will be checked at checkout avoid leaving unnecessary or valuable items in the property.
If you would like to speak to a member of our Lettings team about your requirements, please call a member of our team on 01603 751555
