What is the point of the inspection report?

We have just had our tenants move out of our fully furnished rental and have left our couch covers with some quite severe bleach stains.

They are arguing that they were already there when they moved in but a) both myself and my sister who saw the property before they moved in didn't notice this and more importantly, the inspection report does not make any mention of this.

The PM and tenant are saying they were there but just covered by the decorative cushions - this makes sense for some of them (albeit it should have still been noted in the inspection report) however there are some stains also that could definitely have not been covered by the cushions.

It's $160 to replace the covers and I'm tempted to drop this as it's really not worth the argument but I do wonder what the point of the inspection report is? According to the PM, if we went to VCAT, they would side with the tenant.

As a side, is it usually a requirement that couches are to be professionally cleaned at the end of a lease?

 

From my website: "When you work back from the worst-case scenarios such as heading to [x]CAT to enforce rights under a contract (such as a tenancy lease) or dealing with loss adjusters and insurers for claims against tenants, it is absolute paramount that your property manager has done their job right. The most critical factors are documents and record keeping – it must be perfect otherwise you risk losing money."

 

Am continually requesting record copies !!!! I feel like a 'repeat ' button ..

 

The report is to make you feel they have done a fantastic job, or at least turned up there

Actually, inspection report is to monitor over time, you mean the ingoing......

I would not supply any furniture, but if I did, and I cared about it, it would all be documented, if I go to any of my places when vacant, I take heaps of shots and do some vid, the agent also does the ingoing, but surprise, surprise, there is always something that may have been missed, or a tenant may dispute.

So yeah, if your 100% sure, then insist, if you could be mistaken, I would forget it and throw the couch out so it cannot be argued over, less is better.

 

A video of a walk through sounds like a great idea @dabbler . Might steal this for the next ingoing inspection, covering all rooms and corners

 

So they couldn't move a damn cushion to check it properly?

Most agents think a detailed condition report is taking a couple of photos and ticking yes on each box. It should be FULL descriptions with photos of every bloody inch of the place.

 

Sometimes you miss things.....with video you can freeze frames.....but I agree with little skater....there is a fair bit of work too a proper ingoing and it is the most important.

 

When i moved in my current rental, the report was a joke - as an example bathroom tiles were noted as clean and undamaged. Theyvwere dirty and cracked. There were lots of discrepancies. I sent the agent an email with photos of some of the obvious discrepancies. Effectively means the whole report is discredited if they ever try to rely on it.

 

It's why a new let fee is generally at least one weeks' rent +gst … a proper entry condition report with date and time stamped photos + inventory list if applicable and key register is a fair bit of work.

 

Not really, items of contention will be contended, for other stuff it is what it is. What tenants should know is that it's not just a one way street, they have responsibilities to protect their own interests as well, so they should take their own evidence to adequately record the condition of the property at handover etc.

For example, a lot of slack agents will hand the tenant an entry report with no text and every box ticked, tenants be lazy and just sign it and return, no one but themselves to blame.

 

Possibly but this would require reliance on the inspection report - if it is discredited, you would assume a ruling in the tenant’s favour.

 

I doubt the whole thing would be dismissed.

Not unlike taking a work car, or rental, and if you see damage tell them straight away, or be prepared to cop it.....

 

Which is ok for those that do the work, my experience is many try as many was as possible to evade doing work, avoiding an extra staff member puts a lot more money in owners pocket & lets be frank, a large % of LLs prob have no clue nor have a problem......

Us PC LLs would be looked upon as too much work