Hi, I realise (with horror) that the inventory report ordered via Openrent is not shared with the tenants and it’s up to the landlord to do this. We discovered damage to a property that was handed over recently as new, and I now don’t believe we have any ability to claim against the deposit as the original report wasn’t shared. Has anyone else had any luck in this situation?
Side note, I don’t think Openrent’s inventory report service is worth it. There’s no easy way to contact the agent directly, the report is excessively long and repetitive (nearly 50 pages for a small property), and it requires manual initialling on every page to be valid. It would be much better to share the report with all parties by default, have a shorter report without repetition, and link it to electronic signatures so it’s easy to track and sign for tenants and landlords alike. It’s also expensive for what you get. I shared my feedback with Openrent and their response was indifferent. If you don’t pay for the full check in service they won’t facilitate sharing the report
You could always try to make the deductions based on the inventory report anyway. I have done this in the past and although I have always shared the inventory report with the tenants, I was not asked for proof that the report was sent to the tenants at the start of the tenancy. However, in my case, the tenants were agreeable to deductions so it was a straightforward process. Have you already spoken to the tenants about making deductions?
Openrent’s inventory service is an outsourced service with another inventory company depending on where the property is located, which is why Openrent seem indifferent to this. A good inventory report is supposed to be long and may seem repetitive (for example, all light switches, walls, etc) but it’s not meant to be a thrilling read(!) - the details in the report are really important especially if you are trying to make deductions on the deposit. A shorter inventory report would be a disservice to both you and the tenants, as it would make it more difficult to prove any damage. My properties are in London and I have found Openrent’s inventory service to be good value. Similar inventory services around here are considerably more expensive than Openrent.