Stories: Communication on Checkout

Hello, A big part of our role is surrounding checkouts, involved in this is liaising with tenants, landlords and an independent checkout clerk who are my eyes and ears and support us by reporting conditions of the property when the tenant vacates. In this stories a checkout was conducted, there was cleaning issues and fair wear and tear comments on the report. The walls in particular were documented as having fair and wear tear marks. The walls became an issue as the landlord wanted to charge the tenant for repainting the whole wall. This was never going to happen despite the fact that the landlord wanted it done. A lot of properties have multiple tenants over a long period of time and therefore are not in the exact condition as when they were first purchased. One of the biggest discrepancies when it comes to the conditions of the properties is wear and tear, there can sometimes be a fine line between fair wear and tear and dilapidation. All of our senior team are ARLA qualified and have many years of experience, so we can bring this expert opinion to the table when it comes to this issues on what is deemed as fair wear and tear, this ensures that we can explain comprehensively to a landlord or tenant the differences to enable deductions to be taken fairly from deposits if required. Communication is always vital in preventing any further actions to be taken by landlord/tenant unnecessarily. To help with this, the Deposit Protection Services do have guidelines in regards to fair wear and tear. The key component in checkouts is effective communication and a good relationship between ourselves and landlords and tenants. This can ensure that all aspects of the management of their properties are conveyed in a timely manner having the best outcome for them and the past/future tenants of their properties. Yours in Effortless property management, Dawn Parker MARLA Associate Director - Clients