I have setup a contract, I’ve referenced the tenant and they have passed referencing and has moved in already 3 weeks ago.
Now I want to buy RGI but it says I need to have created an inventory of the flat and have had it signed by the tenant before the tenant moved in. I haven’t done that because it didn’t say to do that while creating the contract.
It baffles me that OpenRent haven’t included that as part of creating the contract.
Am I now in a situation where I’m disqualified from getting OpenRents RGI?
Doing an inventory is not a 5 min job, and requires an on premise inspection, photos etc, so it clearly couldn’t be included for the standard Openrent fee.
You should be doing an inventory as standard for all new tenancies, either yourself, or pay someone to do it, but without it, you are not protected against any damage caused by the tenants.
I am unable to answer your question though about RGI, as I’ve never used it.
A decent inventory should run to several pages and list everything and its condition, right down to light switches and skirting boards. If you’re saying that the RentNow process doesn’t mention inventories at all, then I’m also surprised by that.
It doesn’t mention it per se. Rather it’s an added extra that you can buy from OpenRent as an additional service if you want to pay their fee, like RGI in fact.
But it sounds very much like the LL doesn’t know exactly what they should be doing and expects OpenRent to tell them. That’s not OpenRent’s responsibility though. It makes you wonder what else this LL may have missed in setting the tenancy up.
So when it presents the option to buy an inventory as an add-on, does the RentNow process clarify the consequences of not having one, ie no chance of claiming against the tenant for damage?
That sounds remiss given the importance of a decent inventory and photos. I would expect a letting agent to provide some sort of checklist of other issues to consider even where they’re not providing them as add-ons, such as Right to Rent checks, deposit protection, GDPR privacy notice/ICO registration, EICR/EPC/GSC/How to Rent, smoke alarms in the property, dealing with utilities and Council Tax etc. Perhaps they do provide this somewhere? I would hope so.
As you’ll see if you look at the Rent Now service, no inventory is included which gives the impression that it’s an optional extra rather than an essential. To get an inventory, you need to go to Pricing and Services > Inventory. There it does say
To protect yourself against damage caused during the tenancy, it’s vital to carry out a detailed inventory before new tenants move in.
However, this isn’t stated as part of the Rent Now process by default.