Six hundred rooms in a fortnight
Tenancies end in a wave in late June. The site team walks corridor by corridor with clipboards, noting a stained carpet here, a missing chair there, holes in the wall where posters were fixed with the wrong tape. The notes are typed up later by someone who was not in the room. A few weeks after, the student gets an email listing deductions from their deposit and replies asking for evidence.
The evidence is a phone photo on a staff member's personal phone, or nothing. The move-in inventory from September is a signed PDF with ticks in boxes that says the carpet was "good".
Why inspections do not stand up
Most move-out disputes are not about whether damage exists. They are about whether it was there before, who caused it, and whether the charge is fair. Paper inspections cannot answer those questions because the two ends of the tenancy were recorded in different ways, by different people, with nothing linking them.
- Move-in condition is recorded as ticks, not photos, so there is nothing to compare against.
- Different staff describe the same damage in different words.
- Photos are taken on personal phones and never attached to the room record.
- Charges are worked out from memory rather than a set list, so two similar rooms get different bills.
- Communal areas and bedrooms are mixed up, so it is unclear who should pay for what.
What it costs when deductions fall apart
Every disputed deduction takes staff time to answer, and if it goes to a deposit scheme's dispute process, you need evidence you may not have. Deductions you cannot evidence often end up refunded, while the repair still has to be paid for. The team also loses time in the tightest window of the year, when rooms need turning round for summer lets or September.
The inspection app we build
- At move-in, students complete a short room check on their phone, adding photos of anything already wrong. Staff can do the same during their own pre-arrival checks.
- At move-out, staff open the room on a tablet and see the move-in photos and notes for that room, item by item.
- Each item is marked as fine, cleaning needed, damaged or missing, with a photo taken in the app and stored against the room and tenancy.
- Charges come from your own schedule, for example a fixed cleaning charge or a repair cost, so the same issue always produces the same amount.
- Anything outside the schedule goes to a manager to price, rather than being guessed on the spot.
- Each student gets a statement with photos from both ends of the tenancy and a way to respond within the period your policy sets.
- Confirmed repairs are sent on as maintenance jobs, so the room is fixed before the next student arrives.
| Question in a dispute | Paper process | Inspection app |
|---|---|---|
| Was the damage there at move-in? | Tick box says good | Photo from September |
| Who recorded it? | Unclear | Staff member and time stored |
| Why that amount? | Worked out on the day | Line from your charge schedule |
| Has it been repaired? | Separate job sheet | Job linked to the inspection |
Whether and how much you deduct follows your tenancy terms and deposit arrangements. We do not advise on what is recoverable.
A check-out season with fewer arguments
Inspections are done once, in the room, with evidence attached. Statements go out soon after move-out because nobody has to type anything up. When a student questions a charge, the answer is two photos and a line from the schedule. The maintenance team sees the repairs list by building and floor as inspections finish, which helps with turning rooms round.
Is this what move-out is like?
- Check-out notes are handwritten and typed up later.
- Move-in inventories do not have photos you can find quickly.
- Students regularly dispute deductions and you struggle to evidence them.
- Similar damage leads to different charges in different rooms.
- Repairs found at check-out are not always passed to maintenance.