Property inventory: how to write one that survives a deposit dispute

A property inventory is the written record of what is in a rented property and what condition it was in on the day the tenant took the keys. It is the only document that turns "the carpet was already stained" into a question of evidence rather than a question of memory. Deposit adjudicators do not award deductions because a landlord is sincere; they award them because a dated record and a photograph agree with each other.

What a property inventory has to contain

Room by room, item by item, with condition stated in words a stranger can check.

• Every room, including hallways, cupboards, the loft hatch and the garden or bin store.
• Fixtures and fittings — flooring, worktops, sanitaryware, blinds, light fittings — not just loose furniture.
• Appliance makes, models and serial numbers, plus whether each one was tested as working.
• Meter readings for gas, electricity and water, with the meter serial numbers.
• Keys and fobs, counted and described, including window keys and meter cupboard keys.
• Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms: location, type, and the date each was tested.
• Existing damage, wear and marks, described plainly — "3cm scuff, skirting, left of window".

Condition wording that holds up

Adjudicators discount adjectives that could mean anything. "Good condition" is an opinion; "clean, no marks, tested working on 12 September" is a fact. Avoid "as new" unless the item is new, and never write "usual wear and tear" — that is the conclusion the other side wants to argue about, not a description.

Photographs need to be dated by the file, not by a caption. Keep the originals, not the versions that went through a messaging app, because compression strips the metadata that proves when they were taken.

Run the inventory as a register, not a Word document

The document has to be produced twice: once at check-in, once at check-out, with the two compared line by line. That is a table with one row per item and a column per inspection — a shape a word processor handles badly and a register handles naturally. Ettex Records holds a row per item with condition, photographs and inspection dates attached to the row, so the check-out comparison is a column next to the check-in rather than a second document nobody can align. Where the tenant signs off the inventory at check-in, Ettex Signature attaches the executed copy to the same record.

Check-in and check-out, done properly

1. Complete the inventory before handover, not after, and date it.
2. Walk the property with the tenant if they are willing, and record who attended.
3. Give the tenant a copy and a stated period — commonly seven days — to comment or amend.
4. Log their comments on the record rather than in an email thread, and keep the version they agreed to.
5. At check-out, inspect against the same list in the same order, with new photographs of the same views.
6. Separate wear from damage in the write-up, and cost only the damage, apportioned for the age of the item.

Letting agents running dozens of check-ins a month tend to keep inventories attached to the tenancy and the landlord contact rather than in a shared drive — the same record structure a crm for real estate provides, with the inventory as one document on the relationship.

An inventory says what exists; it rarely says who has it tonight. Asset tracking software adds the custody layer — a scannable label, check-out to a named holder, and a movement history somebody can be asked about.

Listing what exists is the easy half; deciding what is worth keeping is the other. Dead stock carries rent, handling and tied-up capital on top of a loss that already happened.

What makes a deposit claim fail

• No check-in inventory at all — the most common reason, and effectively unarguable.
• An inventory the tenant never received or acknowledged.
• Photographs with no verifiable date.
• Claims for cleaning with no record of the standard the property was let in.
• Replacement cost claimed for an item that was already part-worn, with no apportionment.
• A check-out inspection done weeks after the tenant left, with access in between.

The landlord compliance file and the property inventory are separate documents doing separate jobs: one proves the property was safe and legal to let, the other proves what condition it was in. A tenancy that ends badly usually needs both, and the deposit scheme will ask for both.