According to the Tenant Deposit Scheme (TDS), the largest proportion of the disputed deposit was awarded to tenants (51.85 per cent) compared with 35.84 per cent to landlords and 12.31 per cent to agents. This represents a gradual increase in the share of the awards made to landlords and a corresponding decline in the tenants share.

The stats also show that cleaning remains the most common cause of a dispute and is continuing to rise at 52 per cent in 2011-2012, compared with 49 per cent in 2010-2011. This is followed by damage to the property (45 per cent), redecoration (28 per cent) rent arrears (18 per cent), and gardening (12 per cent).

According to the InventoryBase -“ a leading supplier of property inventory software – many agents and landlords are still leaving themselves vulnerable to disputes because they are simply not producing robust and thorough enough inventories.

Steve Rad, Managing Director of InventoryBase comments:

Landlords continue to have a poor record in winning tenant dispute cases because they can’t provide the right evidence to show the deposit should not be awarded to the tenant.

Many agents and landlords find compiling inventories very time consuming and hence skip on attention to detail, which can land them in hot water. Areas of negligence include not enough detailed recording of damage, supported by appropriate digital evidence and incomplete check-in and check-out documents.

Inventories are really important documents protecting both the landlord and tenants from any legal action when a tenancy ends. Creating the document has always been a lengthy process relying on manpower and follow up paperwork. To meet the demand for a streamlined, quicker way of producing inventories, we have developed InventoryBase, which simplifies the process from start to finish.

InventoryBase is award-winning property inventory software for agents, landlords and inventory clerks featuring low running costs, web-based reports, digital signatures, checklist and real-time alerts. InventoryBase empowers users to produce inventories in less time without compromising on detail.