Inspection of rented property - anyone been through this?

DH and I received a letter from the letting agent we are renting our property from, saying that they are coming on Tuesday to inspect our house on behalf of the owner "to check for wear and tear".

Has anyone ever been through this before.

I am terrified that they are going to say we aren't keeping it up well enough, and they are going to throw us out. We are paid up till the end of our 6 month tenancy agreement in May (we are self-employed so had to pay in advance) and then it is supposed to revert to a rolling month-to-month tenancy.

We haven't caused major damage and I try to kep everything clean and tidy, but everything in this house - walls, ceiling, carpet - is white or off-white and I'm not the best at domestic chores and I don't have time to run around all day long cleaning up every mark or every tiny scratch. (I'm also not sure which were made by us and which were made by the previous tenants.)

I'm planning to take off from work the day before trying to fix things up as much as I can.

Has anyone who rented a house been through an inspection like this before? What hapened?

(I know that technically, the owners can kick us out for no reason at all after our tenancy agreement is over, but I don't want our failing the home inspection to be a reason for them to want to kick us out.)

before we moved into our bungalow. my partner had a flat like this.

they checked like every 6 months. they really just look for holes in the walls, holes in the carpet and any unauthorized painting

they dont go around looking for any dust,dirty walls and etc.

from what you described , you''ll be fine

We have this every 3 months.

They just come in make sure that there's no major holes in the walls or floors and that the windows are intact.

They did advise us that there was a tad bit of mould in our shower and to treat it with bleach and the next time they had no issues.

One time we didn't get the letter and I let him in anyway...I hadn't done dishes or hoovered that day and I have a toddler that is a tad bit messy but he said that it wasn't that which he was looking for it was more of just making sure that the flat was intact and that's it.

I get the inspection once a year.  The guy waltzed in, asked me if there were any problems, threw a cursory look round and left in less than 5 minutes.

I noticed the other day that there is a tiny hole, about 1/4 inch in the door of one of the cupboards. We also haven't cleaned the carpets since we've been here (I've Hoovered, but not shampoo'd, so there are small dark spots in places) and I haven't cleaned the outside of the upstairs windows.

There are also some (not many) scratches on the walls from wire hangars.

There is some mold/mildew, but I think it was here before we moved in.

How bad is all that?

really hard to say without seeing it really.

could you rent a carpet shampooer from somewhere? ive seen them being advertised in some dry cleaners where you can rent it for a day

what is that cupboard door made out of? is it dark wood? or is it white wood/plaster? when we moved out of his flat,there was holes in the walls from screws where the tv was hanging on the wall, we got some polly filler /hole filler to fix the holes and it worked fine.

as for the window, i dont think that should be a problem really

We had an inspection a few months ago -- but we were away on vacation when the notice came and they arrived and inspected before we got home, so there was no chance for any quick and dirty cleanup or anything.  We never heard anything regarding the visit, so we're assuming there was nothing worth mentioning.  

Most leases allow for "normal wear and tear" but even if they do say something it's not the end of your lease period, so, in theory, anything noted could be fixed by that time.

ETA:  That said, if you already know your landlord or the agency are nitpicky nutbags, then by all means, go all out to make sure it's sparkling upon arrival.

We're inspected once a quarter and to be honest they would never even notice any of the stuff you mention. I suppose some agents are more hard core than others, but the lady who usually comes here just glances around and says everything's fine. In fact I usually use it as an opportunity to point stuff out to her - damp patches, etc. - that aren't our fault. That way she has to report it and when we do eventually move out they can't say we didn't tell them....

Two possis.

1. They want to see if you make the place shine so they can get more rent with a new tenant.

2. They have money to spend and want to see what they can spend it on in your rental.
 


You could point out anything you want fixed and that may end with less inspections.

ETA:  That said, if you already know your landlord or the agency are nitpicky nutbags, then by all means, go all out to make sure it's sparkling upon arrival.

No idea. We've only been here since November.

That's why I'm surprised by this. We were told that the property would be inspected before the tenancy agreement was up. I thought that meant just before the agreement was up.

If it's through an agency, I definitely wouldn't worry.  They are literally checking to make sure you haven't painted walls black, etc.  They also may send someone out to all their properties at various times of the year and this just happens to be one of those times.  Probably doesn't have anything to do with your agreement. 

Ours come through in about five minutes.  Once, a quite zealous agent opened the oven door (for pete's sake) but other than that, they usually just glance around and move on. 

Once a quarter.....rain or shine

They come in, ask where am i from,
Them: "tell me about Teaxs",
Me: "Yep, we all carry guns",
Them: "What do you think about Obama"?
Me: "Who's that"?
Them: "Anything broken"?
Me: "no"

They leave

Some landlords and letting agents  seem to do this and some don't. I've had 2 that did and what a waste of time. They just had a quick walk round, cursory glance at everything, said all was fine. One had a form with things that he ticked off then he and I signed it to show we agreed and still at the end  of the tenancy they tried to say we had trashed the carpets, even though their records showed all was fine. 

still at the end  of the tenancy they tried to say we had trashed the carpets, even though their records showed all was fine. 

similiar with us, when we left, we cleaned it spotless. Scrubbed the walls and windows clean. Shampooed carpet, fixed the nail holes in the walls and etc.
But they tried to say "the flat was full of rubbish" and that they had to hire a professional cleaner. What a load of crap. They just wanted to keep ahold of the security deposit.

Bit off topic,but we were able to leave the flat before the lease was up without any penalties...because he found out that the landlord,who has a shop below the flat. was stealing our water, she came in when he were out,and hooked up a pipe from our water to go into her shop. So hepaid for her water. We took pictures,told the agency we are leaving the flat early and wont be paying anything after next months rent. We didnt hear a peep back! lol

similiar with us, when we left, we cleaned it spotless. Scrubbed the walls and windows clean. Shampooed carpet, fixed the nail holes in the walls and etc.
But they tried to say "the flat was full of rubbish" and that they had to hire a professional cleaner. What a load of crap. They just wanted to keep ahold of the security deposit.

That seems to be scarily common -- the "we had to have it re-cleaned" story.  Happened to us, too, despite the fact that we'd paid a fortune for a cleaning crew that their estate agency recommended and the place was in better shape when we moved out, than when we moved in!  Jerks!