RKirwan
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Completely agree Tezza and as for remote inspections the idea is ludicrous and a licence for tenants to cheat, cleaning is the leading cause of disputes by a country mile, its hard enough finding inventory clerks who understand what a professional clean looks like and we all know you can’t rely on a receipt from a cleaning company which aren’t usually worth the paper they are written on. It is not for us to second guess advice from the government as long as we follow the guidelines which I have found to work extremely well in the last few weeks, I also think it is very unfair to shoot the messenger and criticise the AIIC, which is a trade body and subject to government guidelines, its not like they have the power to order us to stop.
I couldn’t agree with you more Matthew I am taking exactly the same approach, the guidelines are that when you can’t work from home then you should continue, taking every precaution to avoid spreading the virus, I use a motorcycle so avoid public transport and I’m not even returning keys to my agents anymore unless they absolutely need them so there is no contact. In my view, it is the duty of anyone who can work to continue to do so, the return of a healthy economy is equally important to protecting the nation’s health, this is not a time for hysterical overreaction.
I agree with you Matthew, I am acting fully in compliance with government requirements, no tenants are within 2 meters not even 10, they just open the front door and leave the keys inside. You are more likely to catch something when hoarding loo roll at your local supermarket. All of my agents are in agreement with this approach, it’s all very well saying we are not essential but I have seen dozens of emails today from people due to move this week absolutely desperate to make sure it happens, so pretty important to them. BTW Rowley, what happens if your flat has been trashed to the tune of thousands and you can’t pursue the tenant because you haven’t got a check out and you haven’t got the money to repair it?
I agree with Jilly and Matthew Wilson, I have adopted procedures to comply with government requirements. As for key workers, there are thousands of tenants who need their deposits back and Landlords who need their properties let, not to mention the homeless seeking accommodation. I will be carrying on as best I can, in the last week I have had no contact with anyone apart from my well known agents with keys being handed through the door.
I fully agree, I’ve been doing check ins prior to the tenants arriving and just handing over keys on the worktop counters. I feel fully vindicated yesterday in a shared flat in Balham the new tenant turned up with her parents as they do (Completely annoying and pushy, you know the type ‘have you seen that 3 foot red wine stain on the carpet’…) Anyway her father was snuffling and wheezing, blowing his nose so I said to him have you got a cold which he of course denied, so I pointed out what the government has been saying about people with colds and he had the cheek to just shrug as though it didn’t matter so I pointed out that I don’t get paid if I can’t work, there are some very selfish people out there. Remember only you will look after yourself.
Talk about tight! How is this any different to furniture impression marks in a carpet…?
Easily Phillips by a country mile, V expensive but ultra reliable and easy to use.
Its always been the case, you cannot specify a cleaner or write into the tenancy agreement that it must be professionally cleaned, this is just the government tightening up on what already exists. As for professional cleaning judging by some of the comments on here with the generally poor standard of many so called professional cleaners I find it difficult to believe that clerks are relying on an invoice as proof of cleaning, it either is or isn’t properly clean and that should be the basis for your comments, I will happily sign off without an invoice if the standard is right and I’m afraid if you can’t tell what that standard is you should find another business…
Hi
sounds very odd, on what grounds?
Completely agree Stef! In the 20 years I’ve been in this business there has been a creeping progression where we are expected to do more and more but when it comes to increasing our fees Quelle Horreur! The list above falls squarely under maintenance/management as far as I am concerned, my job is to find chargeable damage and cleaning issues to protect the tenant from undue charges at the end of the tenancy, not to do the Agents/landlords job for them. Inventories represent excellent value for money and its about time we started banging the drum rather than just being treated as another expense to be tolerated.
Just one quick question, bearing in mind the potential for serious problems that this legislation has raised, has the AIIC taken any legal advice? There must be someone out there who can give a definitive answer to how it affects our business.
I spoke to one of my agents only yesterday, his view is that they are still allowed to charge the tenant for the check out, so if the tenant was charged for the check in then the landlord will pay for the check out, but at the next tenancy there will have to be a transitional period where the landlord will pay for the check in and then the tenant pays the check out…
Whether or not this is correct I do not know, he is an ARLA agent though with 50 years experience so he should know!Know how you feel, I’ve got a similar one at the mo. have done 4 jobs and one abortive for her and she has arbitarily decided to pay only the bits she thinks she should have to pay for, like a tenant didn’t turn up for a check in, because of that she thinks she doesn’t have to pay… never mind the 2 hours work I did! If I were you I wouldn’t accept a check out from her…just not worth the hassle… You could maybe act on behalf of the tenant though…
Always a difficult one and very easy to do an awful lot of work for not very much reward, I work on the basis of how many flats could I do in the same time, typically say I do 5 1-2 bed flats a day at around 200 pounds plus vat each then a decent 4 bed house comes in at around £800- 1000 plus vat that is big houses not typical housing estate stuff which would be around £400ish for a make and check in.
I approach them as if I was doing a full check out. I make it clear that occupied bedrooms will not be inspected due to ‘tenants in situ’, same applies to meters and only keys I hand over are noted. I check common areas and rooms but without the full in depth, I check as much as possible kitchen units, worktops, white goods etc but this is strictly limited because a fridge maybe full and no way will you see a broken shelf mount for instance.
Cleaning is unlikely to be professional…. so note it as you see it, if you find heavy stains on the sitting room carpet then that is clearly noteworthy damage, remember you are protecting the ingoing tenant by finding this damage.
Finally some of my agents suggest the old tenant leaves £70-80 as a contribution to end of tenancy cleaning costs…All the best!