12th
Feb 2021
The latest research highlights the most common reasons that lead to deposit disputes and unsurprisingly cleaning hits top spot at 42% according to The Dispute Service in 2019 – 2020.
Not far behind in second spot is damage to the property at 41% with having to re-decorate after the tenant leaves at 36%.
Gardening problems was fourth at 23% followed up by rental arrears of 14%.
The data also found that over the past few years there has been a steady rise in percentage of disputes that have been instigated by tenants instead of landlords.
In the twelve months leading up to March 2020 the proportion of tenant led disputes increased to 74% whereas in the previous year it stood at 67.4%.
It was also found that from April 2019 to March 2020 there were 34,993 disputes which fell from the previous year’s total of 35,513; this is despite an increase in the number of new tenancies throughout England and Wales over the twelve months up to the end of March 2020’s total of 4.1million, compared to March 2019’s 3.9 million.
Paul Oxley the managing director of a PropTech firm, said: “According to the TDS, many tenants claim that the cleanliness of the property at the start of the tenancy was not clear, or that the tenancy agreement did not make clear what was expected of them. So, it is vital that landlords have a proper inventory prepared and do a thorough check-in and check-out, so they have the right proof of condition at the start and end of a new tenancy agreement.”
He recommends landlords to carry out comprehensive check-ins and check-outs at the beginning any new tenancy and completion which should include taking videos and photographs alongside thorough descriptions of the property’s condition and contents.
The firm has highlighted what it calls “some common mistakes” which usually ends up causing a deposit dispute:
"Landlords make the mistake in thinking that inventories can be heavily comprised of photography and video. Completely photographic or filmed inventories without a complete written accompanying report are almost useless.
"There is no need to photograph every single corner of the property as this is simply a waste of time - stick to the important things. Films and photographs alone will be of little use in a dispute when an adjudicator is trying to find hard evidence of a particular area.
"Many landlords do not carry out a thorough and full check-in and check-out of the property at which the tenant was present. Landlords and agents who don’t have this available when they go to court, have little chance of winning the case.
"Often there is no correspondence with the tenant that is documented and no receipts are kept for the deductions on the deposit e.g. cleaning and repairs."
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