Rental inventory checklist

Who prepares the inventory, and who pays for it?

The landlord or letting agent arranges it, sometimes using an independent inventory clerk. You cannot be charged for it: GOV.UK’s Tenant Fees Act guidance says your landlord cannot make you pay for an inventory service. A check-in or check-out fee is not one of the payments the Act allows.

Asked for an inventory, check-in or check-out fee? See what the Tenant Fees Act allows, and how to get a banned fee back.

Does my landlord have to give me an inventory?

An inventory is not on the list of written information a landlord must give you before a new tenancy starts in England. But without one, a landlord who later claims for damage has little to show what the home was like when you arrived, so most agents provide one. If you are not given one, make your own and send it to the landlord or agent.

Making your own means the same room-by-room checklist below, with dated photographs, sent by email so the record carries a date. Ask the landlord or agent to confirm they have it.

What should I check, room by room?

Everything the inventory describes, against what you can see, plus anything it leaves out. Go slowly, in daylight if you can, and write down what you can measure rather than “fine” or “good condition”.

In every room

• Walls and ceilings: marks, scuffs, holes from fixings, cracks, damp patches, mould, peeling paint.
• Floors: stains, burns, worn or flattened carpet, scratched or lifting boards, cracked tiles.
• Windows: cracked glass, broken handles, locks and keys, condensation between panes, sealant.
• Doors: handles, locks, hinges, marks, whether each closes properly.
• Light fittings, bulbs, switches and sockets: does each one work?
• Curtains, blinds and poles: present, working, stained or faded.
• Radiators: present, not leaking, warm when the heating is on.
• Furniture, if furnished: every item listed, with its condition.

Kitchen

• Oven, hob and extractor: clean or not, every ring and setting working.
• Fridge and freezer: clean, working, seals intact, no ice build-up.
• Washing machine and dishwasher, if supplied: run a short cycle if you can.
• Worktops and cupboards: burns, chips, water damage, doors and drawers that stick.
• Sink and taps: drips, drainage, sealant.

Bathroom

• Bath, shower and basin: chips, stains, limescale, drainage.
• Sealant and grout: mould or gaps, which are a common deposit claim.
• Toilet: flush, seat, any leaks.
• Extractor fan: working.

Safety, meters and keys

• Smoke alarms: one on every storey with living accommodation, tested on the day you move in.
• Carbon monoxide alarms: in any room with a fixed combustion appliance such as a boiler or wood burner.
• Meter readings for gas, electricity and water, each photographed with the reading visible.
• Keys: count every key, fob and remote, and record what each one opens.
• Outside: garden, fences, sheds, bins and anything else listed.

Should the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms be working when I move in?

Yes. In England your landlord must have at least one smoke alarm on each storey used as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room used as living accommodation with a fixed combustion appliance (not including gas cookers). They must check each alarm works on the day a new tenancy begins. Once you live there, you test them; if one fails, tell the landlord, who has to repair or replace it.

How should I photograph the property?

Take a wide shot of each room from the doorway, then close-ups of every mark, stain or defect with something in the frame for scale. Keep the original files, which record the date they were taken, and email a set to yourself or the agent on move-in day so there is an independent record of the date.

• Photograph the meters with the reading legible, and the smoke alarms after pressing the test button.
• A short video walking through each room is useful alongside the photos, not instead of them.
• Don’t rely on a phone alone: save a copy somewhere you will still have in a year or two.

How long do I have to check and return the inventory?

There is no legal deadline. Agents usually set their own, and it can be short. Use the time properly: add every defect you find, note anything you disagree with, and send it back in writing before the deadline. If you need longer, ask by email; a reasonable agent will agree.

Never sign an inventory you have not checked, and never sign one that says “all fine” for something you have not seen. Keep a copy of exactly what you sent and the date you sent it.

What if the agent won’t change the inventory?

Send your corrections anyway, by email, with photographs attached, and ask them to be kept with the inventory. Your dated email is evidence of the condition at the start whether or not the agent edits their document, and it is what you would rely on in a deposit dispute.

How is the inventory used at check-out?

At the end of the tenancy someone checks the home against the inventory, room by room. Anything worse than it was at the start, after allowing for fair wear and tear, can be proposed as a deduction from your deposit. Your landlord must return the deposit within 10 days of you both agreeing how much you will get back.

Before you leave, go back through the inventory yourself, put right what you can, and photograph the home the same way you did on the first day. The guide to giving notice covers the rest of moving out.

What counts as fair wear and tear?

Fair wear and tear is the natural, gradual deterioration that happens through normal, everyday living, and you should not be charged for it. Faded paint, carpet flattened where people walk and small scuffs from daily life are wear and tear. Burns, large stains, holes from unapproved fixings and dirt from not cleaning are damage.

What is fair depends on the length of the tenancy, how many people lived there, and the age, quality and condition of each item at the start — and that last one comes from the inventory. A landlord should not end up with new for old.

What happens if we disagree about deductions?

If your deposit is protected, it stays in the scheme until the disagreement is settled. Each scheme offers a free dispute resolution service; you and the landlord both have to agree to use it, and its decision is final. Both sides are asked for evidence, which is where the check-in inventory, your corrections and your dated photographs come in.

First make sure it is protected: how to check your deposit is protected, which has to happen within 30 days of the landlord receiving it.