Collecting signatures on inventories has long been a subject of debate amongst InventoryBase users, in terms of collecting signatures during a Check In of new tenants and when exactly they sign an inventory report.
There’s no best practice that’s heavily pushed one way or the other, generally tenants will sign a tenancy agreement in advance of being able to start the move in process, and provide rent and a deposit up front which will need to be lodged with a third party to hold the deposit on behalf of the tenant. This is where an inventory report is needed the most, and a tenant must be provided this inventory report in full when moving in. A final signature is typically required on the day of moving in, taking over the property and collecting the keys too.
Having all of this built right into InventoryBase makes life much simpler for our customers and provides a built-in audit trail to the entire tenancy.
InventoryBase provides in-app signature collection on-site for inventory reports that have already been pre-compiled… but tenants still have time to dispute its findings, and many reports need some additional amendments or polishing before sending the completed report back to the tenant.
If InventoryBase reports are amended at all after having been signed, those signatures are automatically removed and tenants are notified they need to re-sign after amendments have been made.
We do this for a number of reasons – Most of all to protect your reputation as a professional, non-biased party providing an accurate report that will protect both the tenant and the landlord, and our reputation as your provider.
There is however best practice when it comes to using InventoryBase to both complete detailed inventory reports that can be signed once the tenant has read the final document, and collect signatures during Check In for key handover and transfer of liability to the tenant(s).
As well as creating an Inventory, book an additional Standalone Inspection titled ‘Check In’ or ‘Schedule of Condition’. The aim of this report is to detail the keys, meter readings, smoke/carbon monoxide alarms and any other items you want to include solely for the purpose of capturing a signature at Check In.
The Inventory report can be compiled and delivered online – tenants will be able to add comments/disputes right within their browser and add their signature too. The Check In / Schedule of Condition document will be saved as-is, delivered to clients and filed with the property with signatures included.
If you wish to discuss this workflow in more detail, just reach out to the support team at support@inventorybase.co.uk