How to write a furniture inventory for a rental property

The furniture inventory is the signed list of the items in the property on the day it is handed over, together with their condition on that day. When the tenant moves out, the deposit is judged against this document.

Most landlords draw up an inventory. Far fewer draw up an inventory that still works twelve months later, because the lines were written for the day of signing rather than for the day of the comparison.

What a furniture inventory is, and what it settles in a deposit dispute

The inventory turns a deposit dispute into a comparison between two documented states of the same property. Without it, one party remembers a clean worktop and the other remembers a scratched one, and nothing decides between them.

A deposit is not withheld because damage exists. It is withheld because of the difference between the property as received and the property as returned. That difference can only be shown if the starting condition was written down in verifiable words. An inventory that says "kitchen: furnished, everything in working order" records nothing that can be compared, and at move-out the landlord carries the full burden of proving that a given mark was already there.

The mistake repeats itself and it does not come from laziness. The inventory is written in a hurry on handover day, in front of a tenant waiting for the keys, by an owner who can see the property and therefore feels no need to describe it. At that moment everything on the list is obvious. A year later none of it is obvious to somebody who was never in the room. Write the inventory for that person.

The inventory is one of the documents a landlord keeps for a rented property, and it is stored together with the agreement for the whole term of the tenancy.

The fields of the inventory: what belongs on every line

Every line of the inventory carries seven fields: number, room, item, identification, quantity, condition at handover, and a reference to a photo. A line missing any of these cannot be checked at move-out.

Four lines from a finished inventory, written in the order of the fields above. The last field is not a photo in the text but the name of a file in your own set of shots, named after the line number, as described further down:

• 12, living room, three-seat sofa: fabric, grey, sofa bed, 210 cm long; 1 item; 3 cm stain on the right cushion, no tears; photos 12a and 12b.
• 13, living room, television: LED, 55 inch, make, model and serial number from the label on the back; 1 item; no visible defects on the screen or the casing; photo 13a.
• 27, kitchen, built-in oven: make and model from the label, built into the unit under the worktop; 1 item; works, the right shelf is missing; photos 27a and 27b.
• 41, bathroom, basin tap: chrome, wall-mounted; 1 item; limescale on the spout, no leaks; photo 41a.

The numbering runs continuously through the whole document rather than restarting in each room, because the photo files, the later additions and the move-out record all refer back to the numbers. Repeat a number and every reference becomes ambiguous.

The quantity field matters for items that come as a set: chairs, plates, towels, keys, remote controls. A set is one line with a quantity, not four lines, and it is exactly that quantity that gets checked at the end.

Leave blank lines under each room. The tenant will want to add something during the walk-through, and a document with no room to write leads to a separate scrap of paper that goes missing.

Which items belong in the inventory, and where the list ends

The inventory covers everything the tenant receives and is expected to return in comparable condition: furniture, appliances, keys, remote controls, sanitary fittings, floor coverings, light fittings, curtains and blinds. Consumables and the shared structural elements stay outside it.

One question applies to every item: could this item be missing, broken or swapped at the end of the tenancy, and would putting it right cost money? If yes, it goes on the list. Toilet paper does not pass the test. The built-in fridge does, even though it will obviously still be there at the end, because its condition changes.

Walk the property in a set order and write in that same order: entrance hall, then each room clockwise from the door, then kitchen, bathroom, balcony, and finally the cellar or storage room. The same route is walked again at move-out, so that nothing is checked from memory.

Three borderline cases settle most disputes. Built-in appliances go into the inventory with make and model, because a built-in oven that stops working raises the question of who pays for the repair. Items in a cellar or a shared room go into the inventory only if the tenant genuinely gets access to that space, and the inventory says so explicitly. The landlord's own belongings left in the property, a locked wardrobe or boxes in the loft, go into the inventory as excluded property, on a line stating that the tenant has no access to them and is not responsible for them.

How to describe an item so that it is still recognisable a year later

A line in the inventory is recognisable when somebody who has never seen the property could point at the item from the description alone. That takes type, material, colour and approximate size, plus make and model wherever they are visible.

"Sofa" identifies nothing. "Sofa, three-seat, grey fabric, sofa bed, 210 cm" describes one specific object and makes a substitution visible. Swapping an item for a cheaper one of the same kind is not a common fraud, but it happens with appliances, and a line without a model cannot show it.

For appliances, record the make, the model and the serial number wherever the item carries one. It takes a few seconds per appliance and it is the only field that points at this particular unit. Photograph the label instead of copying it out, and enter the numbers from the photo afterwards.

Some items have no distinguishing marks at all: unbranded kitchen utensils, older furniture, curtains. For those the photo is the identification, and the written line refers to it. Record what can be recorded, photograph what cannot, and do not rely on a description that would fit half the flats in the building.

How condition is recorded: observation instead of opinion

The condition field records what can be seen, counted and located: "5 cm scratch in the top right corner of the door". Adjectives such as "good", "new" or "well kept" are opinions, and the two parties rarely hold the same opinion at the end of a tenancy.

The rule is short: the condition field names the defect, its size and its location, or states that no defect was found. "No visible defects" is a usable record, because it is a statement that can be checked against a photo. "In good condition" is not, because at move-out the tenant assumes the item is still in good condition while the landlord is looking at three new marks.

Location is what usually goes missing. A scratch on the parquet means nothing without a room and a position, because the tenant points at a different scratch and says that is the one on the list. Use stable reference points: "to the left of the bathroom door", "under the window", "on the third shelf from the top".

Pre-existing damage is recorded more carefully than anything else, not more casually. Every defect the property already carries is a claim the landlord gives up for the future, which is exactly why the tenant wants it written down, and exactly why writing it down protects both sides. An inventory that hides existing wear to make the property look well maintained sets up a dispute the landlord loses the moment the tenant produces a photo from the first week. Fair wear and tear and damage are separate questions and the inventory does not decide which one applies; the inventory fixes the starting point, so that at the end the argument is only about the difference.

How photos and video are attached to the inventory

Photos become evidence when each file is tied to a numbered line of the inventory, taken on the day of handover, and both parties hold the same set. A folder of unconnected shots proves only that the property exists.

Name every file after the line it belongs to: 12a, 12b, 27a. The inventory refers to those names in the photo field. That is the whole mechanism, and it is exactly what separates a set from a pile of shots.

Every item gets a wide shot showing it in the room, and every recorded defect gets a close-up. A close-up on its own is useless, because it cannot be located. Take the wide shot first and the detail second, so that the order in the folder carries the context by itself.

A video of a slow walk-through, room by room, following the order of the inventory, is a good addition and a poor substitute. It captures the general state of the property in a way that is hard to dispute, but it cannot be quoted line by line, and nobody watches a long video to settle an argument about a sofa.

Send the whole set to the tenant the same day, by email or another channel with a clear date, and ask for a short written confirmation of receipt. That confirmation stops "I have never seen these photos" at the end of the tenancy. Both parties then hold an identical set.

Meter readings, keys and access: where they are recorded

Meter readings, keys, fobs, remote controls and access codes go into a separate numbered block at the end of the inventory, each with a quantity. These are the entries that come back incomplete most often and get written down least often.

For each meter, record the type, the meter number, the reading on the day of handover and the date it was read. Photograph the display. Electricity, water and heating, where they are metered separately, each get their own line, and the reading is written exactly as it appears, leading zeros included.

Keys are counted, not described. Three keys for the front door, one key for the cellar, two remote controls for the garage door, one fob for the building entrance. On a handwritten document, write the count in words as well. Any duplicate the landlord keeps is recorded too. A tenant who discovers an undeclared key during the tenancy has a fair complaint.

Digital access is an item like any other: a smart lock code, an app account, the entryphone code, the Wi-Fi password if the connection belongs to the landlord. Record what was handed over, and remember that this is precisely what gets changed at move-out, and changing it only happens if there is a list.

The inventory as an annex to the rental agreement: signing and copies

The inventory works as an annex to the rental agreement when the agreement refers to it by number and date, the inventory refers back to the agreement, both documents are signed on the same day, and each party holds a complete signed set.

The cross-reference is one sentence in each direction. In the agreement: a clause stating that the property is handed over furnished in accordance with Annex 1, the furniture inventory, signed on the same date, which forms an integral part of the agreement. In the inventory: a header with the names of the parties, the property, and the agreement it belongs to.

Sign or initial every page, not only the last one. A multi-page inventory signed only at the end is easy to challenge and easy to swap, and fixing that costs almost nothing.

Print two identical sets, sign both, and give one to the tenant before anybody leaves the property. A signed document that sits only in the landlord's folder is half a document. With electronic signing, both parties receive the same signed file.

When the tenant wants to add something during the walk-through, add it. A note the tenant wrote and both parties signed carries more weight than a clean document, because it shows that the property was inspected together rather than presented as a finished text. Changing anything after signing is not acceptable. The two sets start to contradict each other and neither is reliable any more.

What changes in the inventory during the tenancy

Every replacement, repair and added item during the tenancy is recorded with a date against the number the item is listed under, confirmed in writing by both parties, and kept together with the inventory. An inventory that stopped being accurate in the third month settles nothing in the fourteenth.

Use an additions block at the end of the document instead of editing the original lines: date, line number, what changed, who paid, and what the new condition is. When the washing machine on line 34 is replaced, line 34 stays as it is and a new dated entry records the replacement, the make and model, and the condition on the day of delivery.

Who paid matters as much as what was changed, and it is what decides whose the item is. A microwave bought and installed by the tenant stays theirs and leaves with them, unless the parties agreed otherwise in writing. Record items brought in by the tenant in a separate block as theirs, and at move-out there is no argument about whether an appliance is missing from the property.

The most common omission is a repair the landlord carried out between two visits with nothing recorded anywhere. Six months later there is a new water heater in the bathroom while the inventory describes the old one, and the whole document starts to look unreliable, including the parts that are still accurate. The same applies to running repairs and maintenance during the tenancy, which go into the inventory as soon as they are done.

These records belong next to the property itself, not in a note on a phone. Asset management in Smarter Facility keeps the inventory of furniture and appliances per property, holds the purchase date, warranty and value of each item, and records condition and replacements, so that at move-out the inventory comes with a history instead of being one signed sheet from two years ago.

How the inventory is used when the tenant moves out

At move-out the inventory is walked line by line in the tenant's presence, each line is marked as returned, missing or damaged, and only the marked lines are discussed against the deposit.

Carry out the inspection along the route of the original inventory and mark each line as you go. What comes out of it is a handover record: the same numbering, a column for the condition on return, and the differences written in the same observational language as the original. Sign it on the spot, both parties, one copy each.

Where a line differs, the record states the difference rather than the conclusion: "20 cm scratch on the worktop, not recorded at handover". Whether that difference is deducted from the deposit is a separate conversation, and it goes better once the factual record has already been accepted and signed. From there the subject is the return of the deposit at the end of the tenancy, and it is conducted on the basis of the signed record.

Fair wear and tear is where even parties acting in good faith disagree. Acknowledge it explicitly. Faded curtains after three years, a worn seat cushion, small marks on the hallway wall: name them in the record and write that no deduction is being claimed. Acknowledging fair wear and tear costs little, and the remaining claims sound credible, because the tenant can see that the list is not an attempt to keep the deposit.

Where a line cannot be agreed, write both positions into the record, sign it with the disagreement inside, and settle that line separately. A record with one open line is a usable document. A record one party refused to sign because of a single item is not.