For Landlords · Lincoln & Lincolnshire
The record an adjudicator believes.
Self-managing, or just want your own record? An inventory you did not write yourself is the one that carries a deposit claim. Photographed, dated, and signed by the tenant on day one.
- Inventory from
- £75+VAT
- Mid-term
- £75+VAT
- Report
- Next day
- Quote in
- 24 hrs
The Deposit · What Goes Wrong
The claim is only as good as the record.
Deposit schemes decide on paper. The landlord has to show the condition at the start, the condition at the end, and that the difference is more than wear and tear. Most failed claims fail on the first page, not the last.
R.01
No check-in inventory
A photograph taken after the tenant has gone shows the end. It says nothing about the start, and the start is what every claim is measured against.
R.02
Written by the landlord
Your own list is evidence, but weak evidence. An independent record that the tenant signed on day one carries far more weight with an adjudicator.
R.03
Photos without a reference
Loose images in a phone folder. No exhibit number, no room, no date the scheme can tie to a line in a document.
R.04
Wear and tear, not damage
You cannot claim for fair wear and tear, and you cannot claim new for old. A graded record separates the two before anyone has to argue it.
R.05
Eighteen months of no visits
The problem a mid-term would have caught in month four arrives as a bill in month eighteen. Damp behind furniture, a fan that stopped working, someone extra living there.
R.06
Keys and meters unrecorded
Two keys out, one back. A meter reading nobody wrote down. The check-in is where both are photographed, listed and signed for.
Residential · The Tenancy Calendar
Four visits, one running record.
Book the inventory and the rest follows the tenancy. Each visit is written against the one before it, so the record never starts again from blank.
Before the let
Inventory & Schedule of Condition
Room by room, ceiling to floor. Every fixture and fitting, graded and photographed with an exhibit number.
Full detailDay one
Check-In
Meters read, keys counted, alarms tested. The tenant walked through the inventory and signed onto it.
Full detailDuring
RecurringMid-Term Inspection
A short visit every three to six months. Condition, obvious maintenance, damp and mould, and whether the tenancy is being kept to.
Full detailEnd of tenancy
Check-Out & Comparison
The same rows walked again. Changes appended, never rewritten. Fair wear and tear separated from damage.
Full detailThe Process
Book it, we walk it, you get the record.
01
Book
Tell us the address, the tenancy dates and which visit you need. We reply within 24 hours.
02
Visit
We arrange access with you or the tenant. A one to two-bedroom flat takes around an hour; larger properties longer.
03
Record
The written report, photographs embedded, the next working day after the visit. Kept on file so the check-out is walked against it.
Record first. Fix if you want.
The Surveyor Co is part of LWR Group, a Lincoln property maintenance company. If a check-out shows work is needed between tenancies — cleaning, decoration, flooring, repairs — the same group can quote for it. No obligation. The record stands on its own either way.
LWR GroupDamp and mould
A mid-term records what is there: the patch, the reading, the photograph. Working out the cause is a different job, and our sister brand The Damp & Mould Man does that one.
The Damp & Mould ManLandlord Reading
Before you book.
What a check-in inventory must include, and why most fall short
The seven things a check-in inventory needs before it will carry a deposit claim, and the three ways a home-made one usually fails.
ReadFair wear and tear vs damage: how deposit adjudicators decide
What counts as wear and tear, what counts as damage, why betterment is never allowed, and how an inventory makes the difference provable.
ReadMid-term inspections: how often, what to record, and the notice rules
The interval, the notice, the checklist, and why the mid-term is the visit that stops month-four problems becoming month-eighteen bills.
ReadAsked & answered.
More than an agent does. An agent has a process and a file; a self-managing landlord usually has a phone full of photographs. If a deposit claim goes to the scheme's adjudicator, the burden of proof is on you, and the check-in inventory is the document that carries it.
No. Since the Tenant Fees Act 2019 the cost of an inventory, check-in or check-out sits with the landlord. It cannot be passed to the tenant as a fee or taken from the deposit.
Wear and tear is the deterioration you would expect from normal use over the length of the tenancy: scuffed paintwork, a worn hallway carpet. Damage is beyond that: a burn, a hole, a stain. A graded inventory records the starting condition of each item so the two can be told apart at check-out. We record the condition; the scheme decides the money.
Every three to six months is the usual interval, and your insurer or lender may specify one. A mid-term inspection records condition, obvious maintenance, signs of damp and mould, and whether the tenancy is being kept to. Tenants must be given at least 24 hours' written notice of a visit.
No. We record condition: what is there, what state it is in, photographed and dated. We do not give an opinion on structure, valuation or whether to buy. Damp and mould diagnosis is a separate job, and our sister brand The Damp & Mould Man does that work.
We keep it. The check-out is walked against the original inventory, and changes are appended rather than rewritten, so the scheme sees one continuous record from day one to hand-back.
Yes. Lincoln is a university city and a lot of the mid-term work is HMO rooms and shared areas. Rooms are recorded individually with the communal areas separated out, so a licence renewal or a council visit has something to stand on.
Get a quote.
Tell us the property, the tenancy dates and which visit you need. We reply within 24 hours.
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