A microwave listed in the inventory at the start of a tenancy and absent at the end is two facts and nothing more. Whether that absence becomes a deposit deduction, a difficult conversation or nothing at all depends on what was written down in between, and on how clearly the item was described while it was still sitting on the worktop.
Missing covers more than an empty space
Some items leave with the tenant. Others are swapped for something similar but cheaper, taken away and never returned, or broken and put out with the rubbish without anyone noting it. Keys, fobs, meter cupboard keys and parking permits sit in the same conversation, and they cause a disproportionate amount of trouble for something so small, being easy to copy and rarely described well.
Each version of the story needs slightly different evidence. A microwave that has simply gone is supported by a clear record from the start and a note of where it was looked for at the end. A microwave replaced by a different model is supported by that same start record, a photograph of what stands there now, and a note of when the change first appeared. Work out which version you are dealing with before assembling anything, because the paperwork that answers one will not necessarily answer the other.
Searching properly is worth the effort. Fitted cupboards nobody opens, the loft, the shed, the garage, the cupboard where the ironing board lives, and the space behind and beneath other appliances. Items also go astray in ordinary ways: a vacuum cleaner that left in a cleaner's van, garden tools in a neighbour's shed, spare keys with a relative. Most of these disagreements involve genuine belief on both sides, so it pays to assume the item is somewhere unexpected until a search says otherwise.
Not everything in a rented property was the landlord's to begin with. A lamp left behind by a previous occupant, something the vendor did not take, a piece of furniture the tenant brought and nobody recorded. A good inventory entry settles that question at the start, when it takes a moment, rather than at the end, when it takes a dispute.
The record from the start does most of the work
The strongest evidence about a missing item is usually written months before anyone knows there will be a question about it. An entry that reads "one kettle" has recorded that a kettle existed. An entry that reads "brushed steel kettle, 1.7 litre, make and model as marked on the base, slight discolouration to the base, on the worktop beside the toaster" has recorded something a stranger could go and look for.
Detail worth having in the entry:
- what the item is, and how many there are
- make, model and colour where these can be seen
- a serial or asset number where it can be read without dismantling anything
- where in the property it was found
- condition at the start, described plainly rather than graded in vague terms
- whether it was seen working, without guessing why something was not
Photographs help, and they help most when they are dated and captioned. A picture of a kitchen worktop taken from the doorway is a picture of a worktop. A closer photograph of the kettle, tied to the room and to the entry it supports, does a different job. The same is true of tenant comments: a signed inventory carrying two or three specific notes about the state of the items says more than a beautifully presented document with no tenant input at all.
What to gather once something has gone
By the time a question is being asked, the useful material is usually a mix of documents rather than one decisive paper:
- the inventory and any agreed amendments
- dated photographs from the start of the tenancy and from the visit at the end
- receipts, order confirmations, instruction manuals or warranty details
- serial or model details that can be matched to a receipt
- maintenance records showing a repair or replacement during the tenancy
- correspondence from the tenancy itself, such as an email reporting a fault or agreeing a swap
- a note in the end of tenancy report of what was looked for, and where
Recollection on its own rarely helps. "I know there were four dining chairs" is a reasonable thing to say and a difficult thing to evidence later. Undated photographs, descriptions written after the event, and items remembered but never listed all leave the same gap.
Keys and fobs need a count
For keys, fobs and permits, a count at each end is worth more than any description. How many were issued, how many came back, whether window keys or a communal door fob formed part of the set. Meter cupboard keys and parking permits are easy to overlook until somebody needs one, and a short line in the inventory costs nothing at the time.
Age, condition and proportionate value
An item that was already several years old when the tenancy began is not the same as a new one, and a claim that treats it as new invites a fair challenge. Deposit scheme guidance generally asks for a balanced view that reflects the age and condition of what was recorded, rather than the price of a replacement that day. Receipts, the original purchase date and a sensible estimate of how long the item might reasonably have lasted all feed into that view.
This is a question of proportion rather than arithmetic, and it is one of the places where paperwork either supports a figure or leaves it looking arbitrary. A claim for a twelve year old washing machine and a claim for one installed last spring are not the same claim, even where the model is identical.
Where observation stops
An inventory or an end of tenancy report records what was visible on a stated day. A clerk can write that no microwave was present in the kitchen at the time of the visit. A clerk cannot write that the tenant removed it, because that is an inference rather than an observation, and the report is not the place for it. The same discipline applies to damage and to anything with a possible cause: describe what is there, not why.
Records do not decide outcomes either. A clerk does not assess deductions, allocate responsibility or reach a view on what should happen to a deposit. Where a dispute reaches a tenancy deposit scheme, the decision is made on the documents each party submits, which is precisely why the quality of the underlying record matters more than the strength of anyone's certainty.
Before anything is submitted
For landlords and letting agents:
- read the start inventory and the end of tenancy report side by side, item by item
- confirm what was looked for at the end, and where
- gather receipts, manuals and any model or serial details
- check whether a replacement or removal was agreed in writing during the tenancy
- check contractor and maintenance records before assuming an item walked
- describe the item as it was, with its age and condition at the start
For tenants:
- read the inventory you were given and use the comment period while it is open
- keep details of anything you bought or replaced, and tell the landlord or agent at the time
- report missing or broken items promptly rather than at the end
- count the keys you were given and the keys you hand back
Where to check the current position
The three government approved tenancy deposit schemes, the Deposit Protection Service, the Tenancy Deposit Scheme and mydeposits, each publish guidance on evidence and on how disputes are handled. The detail differs between them, so the scheme holding the deposit is the one to read. This is practical guidance for anyone assembling a record, not legal advice, and it does not predict how any individual case would be decided.
Making the next one easier
A missing item claim is nearly always preventable. A properly detailed inventory at the start, a comment period the tenant actually uses, a short note when something is replaced during the tenancy and a key count at both ends will between them answer most of the questions that would otherwise arrive months later. None of it takes long at the time. All of it is hard to reconstruct afterwards.