jonathan-jarrett
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Hi Simon
We moved over to HF in 2021. I personally have found them to be extremely efficient and very competitive premium wise. Our insurance is due for renewal in April so we will have to wait and see if and by how much our premium increases. The 2023 premium was the same as 2022
I don’t know if this will be of help in future but, whilst we are happy to conduct inspections for private landlords, we will not release the report until paid for in full. We make this clear at the time of booking. Good luck
We have a client that requires this. We do exactly what Lindsey does and have the same issues. Our client is not requiring us to dismantle alarms, carry ladders etc. We are required to let the agent know if we are unable to find or read the replace by date. In that scenario we will often be asked to leave a new alarm which is a few extra quid for us
Hi Jessica. Very happy to discuss this. Please give me a call on 07768696225 when convenient
Hi Karen
We have our own templates that run on Word. We use speech recognition on site both for compiling new inventories and updating pre-existing ones. This types as quickly as we are able to dictate and is amazingly accurate
We proof read and add photos to all reports and this averages 15 minutes per report – we did that anyway when we used typists
I do not know if this method can be used with apps but it seems Stef thinks not effectively using InventoryBase
I personally haven’t used a copy typist for about 12 years and we haven’t used an audio typist at all for about 6. When we used typists we had a couple of really good UK based ones at about £10 per hour of typing (and who are probably retired now) and also Outsec who were first class but more expensive
Our policy on check outs are as follows:
Yes to check outs using full check in inventories compiled by other clerks
No for inventories compiled by landlords however in reality we will consider each request individually subject to seeing the report first. If we feel the inventory is sufficiently detailed etc and that we can produce a meaningful check out report it’s a yes. If the inventory is effectively unusable then it is a no
No for a check out based on another clerks “Check in report” without the original inventory on which that report is based. I don’t think we have seen a “Check in report” for at least 20 years and to be honest I had no idea this was still a thing
With regards to check ins:
We update our pre-existing inventories in full during check in inspections and provide a complete fully updated version of the inventory for each tenancy. We also completely rerecord our inventories, from time to time, as required
If some on else did the last inventory on a property we replace it with our own. There is no place for “Check in reports” in my opinion and once you have muddled through someone else’s work, reporting style and amended and updated it etc its just quicker and easier to start the whole process from scratch
We make no distinction in our fees between recording a new inventory from scratch or updating an existing inventory. We used to but sadly we have had to get rid of the higher “Make” fee to remain competitively priced
We have exactly this issue with a check out due to take place at the end of the month with an extremely unpleasant and aggressive tenant demanding to attend “his” inspection “because this is his right”. This tenant has a problem with the agent rather than us. Having said that I see no way a meaningful inspection can be carried out with him being present. I believe best practice would be for this tenant to not attend the inspection therefore allowing the inventory clerk that conducted the check in to do the check out. This tenant is citing the unfairness of an inspection process to which he, the tenant, is not represented. I have explained that we conduct our inspections independent of agent, landlord and tenant and to that end the landlord is not represented either. Surely the fairness of this process is that an inventory clerk conducts inspections as an independent 3rd party, inspecting and reporting accurately, fairly and objectively without distraction, interruption or in some cases intimidation
Our policy is always that tenants do not attend check outs. The vast majority of tenants have no interest in attending but inevitably some do. I have previously had confirmed by ARLA that tenants have no right to attend their check out but there is contradiction on this matter with some professional bodies citing different views and advice on this. Indeed even in this short thread there is contradiction on the matter of a tenants right to attend
To be clear I am talking here about an independent inventory process. Where the inventory process is being conducted by the landlord or landlord’s agent I wholeheartedly support the tenants right to attend but not if this is being done by and independent 3rd party inventory clerk
We have just renewed our insurance. On brian-robb’s recommendation tried Hamilton Fraser who were excellent. Very quick and efficient and halved the premium quoted by our exisiting insurer. Great members benefit from the AIIC and highly recommend. Thanks for the heads up Brian
I consider us quite lucky in this respect. We have no involvement in distribution and management of inventories/reports other than forwarding all reports directly to our client agents. They deal with the onward distribution to landlords and tenants but give them the usual 7 days to comment. Any comments received by the agents are forwarded to us by email. Any comments/emails we receive back are filed with the report but we do not amend reports per se on the say so of either landlords or tenants