How Landlords Should Take Photos For An Inventory

I've read that inventory photos should ideally be signed and dated by the tenant and landlord (or representative) on the day of check-in. I think the ICE would find signatures hard to dispute.

Adjudicator accused guy in your example as a fraudster, nice!

Its good to get inventory signed by tenant, sure LL they can say its not their signature - but along with dated photographs it adds extra evidence.

One idea though, maybe an App that instantly uploads photo with time and geostamp from phone's may be a good idea. Getting a 3rd party involved mitigates chance of manipulation. I thought about this before, but myself I use proper camera not phone for photos.

This will always be an on going issue as it really is down to what the adjudicator will except.

We produce inventories using HD video with a daily paper clearly shown at the beginning of the footage but you could quite rightly argue that it is not total proof. We also provide embedded digital photographs that attach directly to a template so we cannot actually manipulate the dates ourselves as once it has gone to the server the pictures cannot be altered.

I think the key point to be made is that any photographic / videoed inventory needs to be accompanied by a very comprehensive written inventory that can be matched (easily) with the video / photo evidence.

The issue that we find is that letting agents are more interested in the cost of the inventory rather than its ability to protect the landlord and tenant. If you pay less you will get less!

Almost anything can be faked with photos, and including today's paper isn't even a difficult one.

The way to get your evidence accepted is either to have it verified by a reliable third party or by the tenant themselves. Having secret inventories which the tenant has never seen turning up later is always going to raise questions in a dispute situation (I don't even know why you would do that anyway).

If the tenant has signed the inventory which accompanied the tenancy agreement, and the two are cross referenced (or appears in the video) they are going to find it hard to claim later that it has been faked - although it is worth making them sign and date every page.

If they claim it is inaccurate after signing a statement saying it is accurate and representative they will probably be hitting a dead end.

I think all the advice about newspapers will carry only slightly more weight than the time stamp which was completely rejected. I don't recommend anyone relies on that alone.

The TDS accepted way is to have the photos clearly printed and to form part of the inventory. Every page should be signed to the tenant including the photos just like the AST. Not only would that would be pretty hard to dispute but would deter litigious tenants from going to formal dispute as good photos are much better proof of condition than a written inventory even if it's provided by an independent inventory clerk.

get the photos signed and dated by both landlord and tenant.

As a Scottish landlord who will soon be forced into this piss take come November I'm still formulating my strategy on how to handle inventories and the post from the Adjudicator is interesting. I was personally leaning towards doing a (ha, lengthy) video before a tenants entry since it allows you to cover everything without taking a plethora if individual photos and more importantly can be used to write up a detailed written inventory when you get home to a computer.

In terms validation I thought a nice touch would be to upload the video as an unlisted video to youtube and have the link included on the written inventory or lease agreement before having the tenant sign&date - the upload date on the video would also be a nice confirmation on when the video was taken and as far I'm aware it can't be edited while retaining the same link. This also has a convenient feature of being an easy way to provide video evidence to tenants/adjudicators without burning dvd's etc.

Assuming the video evidence is stored digitally though you can prove infallibly that the content hasn't been modified/edited by simply including the video's MD5 hash (or SHA256 hash if you want be a geek and anal about it) on the written inventory or lease agreement, which again is signed&dated by the tenant. A hash is simply a string of characters which can be thought of as a fingerprint and anyone who was given the video would simply have to hash the video for themselves and check it matches the one on the lease agreement to know it hasn't been altered between those dates. This has been standard practice on the internet for years btw when checking the validity of digital files. The difficulty here though would probably be making sure the adjudicator would understand why the hash is beneficial or indeed how he could check it for himself.

Personally I think I'll be sticking to the lengthy video and a few wide shots of every room, all referenced on the written inventory which the tenant will have seven days to go-over then sign.

Thank you adjudicator whomever you may be! Really excellent insight into whats required.

The only absolutely undisputed way of date stamping something is to send yourself a hard copy of all the photos by recorded delivery.

Keep the photos in the sealed envelope that is date-stamped by the post office and open the envelope only in presence of the judge/adjudicator on hearing day.

You can of course refer to e-copies in the mean time.

even newspapers are easily faked. there nothing stopping a clued-up landlord buying a copy and keeping it in a safe place, and past newspapers can be bought on the internet for about £15

Chris

It really is simple....get an independent and impartial inventory company to compile the Check-in and Check-out Reports.

I am an Adjudicator for a Tenancy Deposit Scheme and I have made over 1500 legally binding Decisions. Personally, I attach full evidential weight to photographs that contain a verifiable digital date and I would only ever reduce that evidential weight if the Tenant can provide substantive contradictory evidence......which is very often never the case. It is not for me to assume that the Landlord has intentionally manipulated the user settings of his/her camera; Adjudicator's assess their evidence on a balance of probabilities and I would always be satisfied on a balance of probabilities (especially when there is no evidence by the Tenant to the contrary) that digitally dated photographs were taken on that day.

However, this would not be such an issue if the Landlord simply had independent and impartial inventory company (preferably the same one from the start and end of the tenancy) carry out a comprehensive and detailed report on the condition of the property at the start and end of the tenancy. The prices for having these carried out are very fair and reasonable (most companies are approximately £10.00 either side of £100.00) and if the Landlord inserts a clause in the Tenancy Agreement making the Tenant liable for this fee, then there is no out of pocket expense for the Landlord. I do not think any Adjudicator worth their grain of salt would dismiss the findings of an independent inventory company......so save yourself the time and hassle of taking photographs, purchasing newspapers blah dee blah dee blah, and get a good and reputable inventory company to come in and compile their findings....you can even request and/or use companies to take digitally dated photographs in support of their findings.

I would recommend any company registered with the AIIC (Association of Independent Inventory Clerks).

:-)

It's good to have an adjudicators viewpoint on this but why only recommend AIIC clerks? Is an APIP registered inventory provider not considered equally as competent?

Yes, please accept my apologies for that oversight.....an APIP registered company would be considered just as competent.

Some Landlord's tend to go through their Agent but as an Adjudicator, I would attach restricted evidential weight to this, unless supported by further substantive evidence, as it has not been carried out by a wholly independent and impartial third party.

APIP - AIIC, same difference. As long as it is completely independent, I would attach full evidential weight to the documents findings.

To save expense, I have found it to be quite common to include the charge for this service to that of the Tenant!

No need to apologise Rory!

It's a hard fought struggle to get Agents and Landlords to see how important inventory reports are and that they have the capacity to win or lose a deposit or claim if not done correctly.

Wow Rory!!
That really is impressive!
If only I had known what a fair and reasonable service was available!!
I've just been knocking up an inventory and digital photos for about a quid and absorbing the cost myself. All along, I could have been charging tenants £100 for such an important service.
If all your industry is as honest as you, it is sure to be a lasting success.

"I have found it to be quite common to include the charge for this service to that of the Tenant"

"if the Landlord inserts a clause in the Tenancy Agreement making the Tenant liable for this fee, then there is no out of pocket expense for the Landlord"

....Not lawful in Scotland.

disgusted to find that without permission my daughters old landlord uploaded a video of her property to u tube complete with her name and address even though it was a police assisted move this cannot be legal?

Hi. I'm After some advice an inventory check was done before I rented a place, without me present and then done without me present when I left by an independent 3rd party. They said I caused damage and are using a photo for evidence but it has no date stamp will this likely count as evidence?

I would recommend burning photos taken on the day of check-in to a white once CD. Then getting the tenant to view the photos on the read only CD then sign and date the CD using an indelible permanent marker pen.