Refused a copy of check out report!

Hi Ian,

I am not an expert with regards to the right of ownership to this document, but that is really beside the point.

I am more worried as you probably are as to why you are not allowed a copy especially as you are not able to easily visit!

I presume the agent works for you? And you pay the agent for the work performed including taking and checking inventories, dealing with deposits, arranging for work like maintenance to be undertaken, and to ensure gas certificates are obtained in accordance with the law, because you are not in country and not able to do it?

I presume you have a 'contract' for this?

You as a Landlord have a right to see any report that is compiled on your property, whether it be an Inventory or Check Out. Ask your agent again for it, they have to give it to you. If not find out who did the report( if they used an independent company) and ask them for it

I would suggest that you reflect on the terms of business between you and your agent and any additional appendix - correspondence etc. They cannot charge you for something they have not agreed with you or their terms fail to cover. Clearly if their terms say they can or they can demonstrate you were advised of the cost and you haven't paid then their position is to be expected, typical to any business providing a service that remains unpaid.

This is why I always try to have contact with my tenants myself, as well as them having an agent to turn to, should they feel they need it.
In this case you could ask the tenants if they will give you a copy, if you have their contact details.
- If the check out report is bad, they might like the chance to liase with you over the costs of some of the items.
You shouldn't need to do this, since this is what you pay your agent to do, but with most things I deal with, especially my most recent transactions, I find I am banging my head against a brick wall trying to go through the third parties in the middle of a deal!!

I'm an agent.

If the terms of business you agreed with your agent (which will be the agent's standard terms of business unless you have something to say otherwise) do not say you'll be provided with a checkout report then they're under no obligation to provide you with one.

That's the strict legal position but I cannot for the life of me imagine why the agent would do one in the first place if they weren't going to let you have sight of it. Its a document to help landlord and tenant reach agreement over the deposit by offering an independent opinion, so by definition both parties need to see it.

If the agent didn't normally do them but the tenant asked for one and paid for it the agent wouldn't be able to give you a copy without the tenant's consent - but its no earthly use to the tenant if you don't see it., so what would be the point.

A complete mystery.

The the answer to that is did work for me but due to my homecoming in two months there was no possibility of getting new tenants so she will no longer be looking after the property. However I have a friend who will be doing it for me. All the above were her duties as the agreement was fully managed. This is however the second tenancy and she decided not to produce a new contract for some reason and because the first was not dated I was led to believe things were ongoing until one of us cancelled or I came home.
With the last tenants she sent the check out report 3 weeks after the tenants moved out and didnt do any repairs that were clearly shown on the report.
She also refuses to produce original receipts for maintenance jobs and gas cert.

Reply to the comment left by "Steve From Leicester" at "17/04/2014 - 15:59":

This is my point. These were 4he second tenants and with the previous ones we had a check out report three weeks after they moved out and only when I asked for it. New tenants were moving in and I checked the report and photos and quieried if some works had been delt with or items replaced. I was told no but after some persuasion she agreed to get some of the repairs made and items replaced. She seemed to be protecting the old tenants because they were nice. Now I have no idea whether my house is now empty and there's grafitti over the walls( worse case scenario) but that's how it leaves me. The only winner is the inventory company who got paid for making the report.

Lots of wrong comment so far.

This is simple

The file belongs to the Landlord and everything in it.

Simple

I'm an agent, and your agent is wrong.

Your agent is just that, your agent. They are dealing with your matters. Anything they have sight of, that is to do with your property, you can have access to.
You are just paying them to do the work you don't have the time or inclination to do. At any time, you can ask for copies of the entire file, and they are obliged to give it to you. They would then be at liberty to charge you for their time compiling that as per your terms of agreement, but they cannot refuse to give you any documents pertaining to your property, or it's tenants..