Do I have to get the tenant to sign the inventory?

A signed inventory is the gold standard. If the tenant refuses to sign, send it by email and ask them to confirm receipt or raise any disagreements within 7 days. Keep the email — silent acceptance after a reasonable opportunity to dispute still carries weight at adjudication.

Do I need to photograph everything?

Photographs are not strictly required, but they are the single biggest enhancement to your evidence. Take dated photos of every room from multiple angles, plus close-ups of any existing damage. Reference photo IDs in the inventory text where helpful.

How is "wear and tear" treated at adjudication?

Adjudicators will not allow deductions for normal wear and tear. A faded carpet after three years of use is wear and tear; a large bleach stain is damage. The clearer your inventory, the easier it is to demonstrate that damage is damage, not natural deterioration.

What’s "betterment" and why does it matter?

Betterment is the principle that the landlord shouldn’t end up with a better property than they started with, at the tenant’s expense. If a 5-year-old carpet is damaged, you can’t claim the cost of a brand new replacement — only a proportionate amount reflecting the remaining useful life. The template prompts you to account for this on every deduction.

Landlord Inventory Template — Schedule of Condition

Landlord Inventory and Schedule of Condition Template

Published 22 May 2026 · Last reviewed 8 August 2026

A free, detailed inventory and schedule of condition. Room-by-room walk-through, every fixture and fitting, condition ratings, meter readings, and a signature block. The single biggest determinant of whether you win or lose a deposit dispute.

Want the rules explained rather than the document?Inventory for Landlords: What to Include and Why Most Deposit Disputes Are Lost Without One — the deadlines, the notice periods and what invalidates them.

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When you need this document

Most landlords who lose deposit disputes don’t lose because the tenant was right — they lose because they have no evidence of the property’s condition at move-in. Without a detailed inventory and schedule of condition, the adjudicator has nothing to compare the checkout against, and the decision goes in the tenant’s favour.

This template produces the inventory you need for every new tenancy. It walks room by room, lists every fixture and fitting, captures condition ratings (excellent / good / fair / damaged / missing), records meter readings, and includes a signature block where both parties confirm the condition at move-in. It also supports embedded photos referenced by an image ID, so the inventory and the photo set form a coherent evidence pack.

Use it for every new tenancy without exception. Even a tenancy you expect to be straightforward can end with a disputed deduction — and the cost of a comprehensive inventory at move-in is an hour of your time. The cost of not having one can be the full deposit.

Who needs this document

You are taking a deposit at all

Without a check-in schedule there is nothing to compare the check-out against, and the adjudicator will resolve the gap in the tenant’s favour.

The property is let furnished

Every item you expect back has to be listed with its condition. An unlisted item is, for evidential purposes, an item you cannot claim for.

You are ending a tenancy and expect deductions

The check-out is the second half of the same document. A check-out with no matching check-in proves only that something is damaged, not that the tenant did it.

You want a defensible record without paying an inventory clerk

A dated self-made schedule with photographs, given to the tenant with a window to comment, carries more weight than a professional one the tenant never saw.

Mistakes that invalidate it

The errors that turn a document you thought was compliant into one that gives you nothing.

Recording condition as "good" throughout

A blanket rating is treated as no rating. Specific descriptions of existing marks and wear are what make the later comparison credible.

Undated or unattributed photographs

A photograph with no date proves nothing about when the damage occurred, which is the only question in dispute.

Never giving the tenant a copy

An inventory the tenant had no chance to challenge carries very little weight, however thorough it is.

Omitting meter readings and key counts

Both are routinely disputed at the end and both are trivial to record at the start.

Claiming full replacement cost for a part-worn item

Betterment. Adjudicators apportion for remaining life, and an inflated claim often reduces what you recover on the rest.

RRA 2025 context

Used in both England and Scotland — the document is the same. Deposit dispute adjudicators on both sides of the border apply the same evidential standard: detailed, dated, photographed move-in record + dated checkout comparison + itemised deduction breakdown with quotes or invoices. Without a move-in inventory, the burden of proof on the landlord is essentially impossible to discharge.

In Scotland the dispute is run by one of the three approved schemes (SafeDeposits Scotland / mydeposits Scotland / LPS Scotland). In England by the DPS, mydeposits, or TDS. Process differs slightly between schemes but the evidence the adjudicator wants is the same in every case.

Frequently asked questions

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Landlord Inventory and Schedule of Condition Template

When you need this document

Who needs this document

Mistakes that invalidate it

What’s included

RRA 2025 context

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Frequently asked questions

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Sources

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