Disputes over rent arrears soar 90%

According to the latest data from the Tenant Deposit Scheme, cleaning continues to take the lion’s share of deposit disputes, while disputes over rent arrears soar by 90%.

Related topics:  Landlords
Warren Lewis
29th March 2017
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Cleaning has been the most common dispute in cases brought to the TDS and in 2015-2016 it accounted for 57% of cases, down just 1% year-on-year. Rent arrear disputes showed a significant increase, soaring from 10% to 19% year-on-year.

The second most common cause of disputes is damage to property (51%), followed by redecoration (32%) and gardening (16%). While the least expensive claim in 2015-2016 was for a broken wine glass at £10, the most expensive claim amounted to £18,250.

According to Imfuna, developer and provider of digital inventory report app Imfuna Let, landlords and agents are increasingly facing challenging times with rising rent arrears and dirty and damaged properties at check-out.

Jax Kneppers, Founder and CEO of Imfuna comments: “Landlords and agents need to ensure they make regular inspections of a property to check its condition and raise any issues with the tenant. If landlords and agents fail to visit the property during the tenancy, they could be in for a nasty surprise at check-out.

At the start of the tenancy, landlords and agents should give tenants a thorough and professional inventory, which clearly records the condition of the property and its contents. Tenants should be made aware that it is their responsibility to leave the property as clean as when they took on the property, and if any damage is incurred during the tenancy the landlord or agent should be alerted immediately.

It is vital that landlords and agents do a thorough check-in and check-out so they have the necessary proof of condition at the start and end of a new tenancy agreement. If agents and landlords wish to make deductions for cleaning costs, they need to be able to prove that there was a change in condition from the start to the end of a tenancy in order to prove deductions are warranted.

We work with many landlords and agents who use Imfuna Let, and tell us they have seen a significant drop in disputes as well as an improvement in the condition of their properties at the end of the tenancy. They attribute this to the thorough inventories and periodic inspections that they use to communicate changes in condition over time to tenants; furthermore, they are able to adopt a uniform process by using the Imfuna Let solution.”

Marie Brooks of Monks Estate and Letting Agents comments: "Providing a professional inventory report for every tenancy is essential in ensuring deposit disputes are a rare occurrence. When a detailed and thorough record of a property and its contents are provided at the beginning of a tenancy, there can be no doubt as to the amount of damage that has taken place when compared to the condition of the same at the end of a tenancy. In our experience, inventory reports have reduced tenant and landlord disputes to a great degree."

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