The checkout is one of the most crucial parts of the daily life of lettings: it can make or break the experience of having lived in or rented out a property, depending on whether you are the tenant or the landlord.
So here’s an interesting comment today from one of the main deposit protection services, the DPS:
“Did you know almost half of tenants in England and Wales do not attend a ‘check-out’ at the end of their tenancy?
Good check-out procedure is vital to ensure letting agents, landlords and tenants all agree on how the deposit should be returned, and on those few occasions where a dispute does still arise, a well-documented check-out could be the decisive evidence an adjudicator needs to make a decision.”
I can’t think why a tenant wouldn’t want to attend a checkout – it protects their position, and ensures that they have a voice if the landlord (or the agent) has a different viewpoint about something to do with the way the tenancy has been conducted.
Of course, it’s a prime opportunity for conflict…but it doesn’t have to be so. Here’s the DPS infographic on good checkout process, which we at Northwood Leicester would go along with pretty much in its entirety, so I want to share it with everyone, landlord or tenant, so that you know what it takes to have a smooth, stress-free checkout:
I think it’s right to share things like this: it’s written for agents (e.g. “invite tenants …with sufficient notice” – well obviously) but it helps to explain why we do all this. The rules are there to be followed in lettings law, so making sure these are understood (and applying good common sense) has got to be right.
Here’s to the next checkout you go through being a good one!
Leicestershire Property 