Today I want to talk to you about deposits.

Landlords, do you know it’s a legal requirement to register your tenant’s deposit within 31 days of receiving it?
No!
Did you know you can face a hefty fine?
You don’t want that.

With regards to the deposits there are three schemes to use; you can be a member of my deposits, the TDS or the DPS.
Us here at Inspired are members of the DPS, so what would happen is that the tenant pays us the deposit, we would then register it with the DPS and send it off to them. Tenants would get confirmation that the deposit is held and is fully protected until the end of their tenancy. Once you’ve done that, at least that’s one less thing to worry about.

Now with regards to claiming from tenants deposit, do you know what to do next and what is involved?
No?
Here let me tell you about it all.

With regards to making a deposit claim, evidence is key.
If you don’t have the evidence, you might as well just hand the tenants deposit back to them, you’re not going to get a single penny from it unfortunately, regardless of the condition that they have left in.

At the start of the tenancy you want to have a detailed inventory carried out on the property, photographic evidence, write up as much information as possible, because how you give that property to the tenants is how you expect it back, subject to fair wear and tear.

If the tenants have only been in the property for six months and it’s gone absolutely crazy with marks on the walls, grass is overgrown, you want to prove to the DPS should it go to arbitration, that is fully not expected to be handed back in that condition and therefore you want to make a claim against their deposit.
So you get an inventory done at the start.

You also want to make sure you’ve got your inspection reports carried out from during the tendency because if they’ve always left it untidy, you’ve got proof that they have always kept it untidy and you’ve sent them numerous letters with regards to keeping the property, putting the property back in condition.

What you also need to do is a detailed checkout report, similar to the inventory but at the end of the tenancy when they return back the keys, you do a full report, photographic evidence, write up as well. So if there’s any changes that have happened.

If there’s anything like non-payment of rent or they’ve always been late paying the rent, you want the rental account statement as well.

When you have to go through the claim, what you need to make sure, again evidence is key, I know I keep banging on about it, but really you do need to make sure you have as much as possible.

So you need:

• The inventory
• The checkout report
• Your inspection reports
• A copy of the tenancy agreement
• A copy of a checkout letter that you have sent to the tenants confirming the appointment and what your expectations are reminding them of their terms in the tenancy agreement.
• Rental account statement

If you would like to discuss more, please contact me:
Danielle
Inspired Sales and Lettings
Where we’re with you every step of the way on your property journey