FAQ

The provision of inventories is currently a fragmented and uncontrolled business in the UK . The need to improve the quality of inventory supply has been coming under closer scrutiny as the Government moves further towards statutory regulation of the lettings sector; this included a Government commissioned (Rugg Review) of the sector in 2008.
From 6 April 2007, the Government made it compulsory for those receiving Tenancy Deposits in England and Wales to join a Scheme that safeguards deposits for the duration of a tenancy and offers resolution procedures should disputes arise. These are the new Tenancy Deposit Schemes (TDS). Inventory reports at the beginning and end of a tenancy are central to TDS adjudications.

There were approximately 2.1 million Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs) in England in 2007 (source DCLG survey of English housing). The average length of a tenancy is approximately 16 months. Well over 1.0 million of these tenancies are managed by a structured industry of Letting Agents, private and corporate Landlords. Each of these lettings ideally requires at least two inspections and reports (the ingoing and outgoing inventories).
Inventory Providers may be instructed to carry out one or all of the following at different stages of the tenancy:
• Ingoing Inventory Report
• Check-in process
• Outgoing Inventory Report
• Check-out process
• Interim Visits

 Once you have passed Inventory Provider Training you can choose to contract with e-Tech Ltd to use the SMART-inventory software to produce and deliver your inventories.
You may also choose to join the voluntary Licensed Inventory Scheme (LIS) a trading brand of Inventory-Portal Ltd.
This is a voluntary Licensing Scheme and covers the independent Auditing of our Member’s. The Scheme also promotes our product and services at National level and provides a range of technical and business support services for LIS Members.

 It is unknown how many instructions you can expect as this will depend on your own local market and how efficiently you can win the work in your area.
Licensed Inventory Scheme members may be invited to join our proposed inventory-portal business-exchange to receive panel managed, inventories once our Membership has been established into a credible, national, network of individual consultant members and panel firms.
Put simply, this is an opportunity to enter another field of business. We are not responsible for your personal business development. You must be prepared to develop you own market-share, but Licensed Inventory Scheme Membership will help to promote you as an independent, Quality Managed and Professional Inventory Provider, who has passed training, examination and regular auditing by LIS.

 We urge you to do your own local market research. Internet searches will reveal fee scales from inventory providers charging anywhere from a minimum of £60 +Vat upwards to £200 +Vat per report, depending on the size of the property and whether furnished or unfurnished. These fees would be for privately sourced work into your own business and some regional variations may also exist.

Most large estate agencies or corporate businesses will look for fixed price supply options and if you receive instructions from a panel, it is normal that the panel will retain a share of the gross fee as their business income.

 • Our 1-day Experienced Candidate Inventory Training Course is £195 + Vat, per delegate.

NB Course fees include all course materials, a light lunch and tea/coffee breaks on the two days of training, but if you do need to stay overnight before the training day (depending on the proximity of the venue) all travel and overnight accommodation costs are the responsibility of the delegate and are outside of the training course fees.

• Optional Membership of the Licensed Inventory Scheme (LIS), to be able to use the “Licensed Member” logo and to receive the LIS Member support services and Audit services is £150+Vat annual subscription.

• To join LIS you will also need to obtain a Disclosure Scotland Security Check via an online application at a cost of about £23.

• You will also need to obtain Professional and General Liability insurance cover for your new inventory Business. Fees for this are variable and you should approach a specialist insurer such as Hiscox for your inventory policy quotation. Typical costs are £23 per mobnth on direct debit for an individual Inventory Clerk policy.

 Inventory-portal Ltd supports e-tech’s SMART-Inventory system because e-Tech Ltd is the proven UK market-leaders in surveying software for handheld, PDA devices.
Our staff have worked with e-Tech to develop this PDA application over the last two years. Use of this unique software is therefore part of our two-day inventory provider training course, so that you will have confidence to start successfully using SMART-inventory for your new inventory business.

 The HTC 6500 PDA device and the newer HTC HD2 are available from a variety of sources and price plans:

• Direct from e-Tech at circa £425+vat- or on monthly contract. Please contact e-Tech directly on 0844 848 1623

• Affordable mobiles – http://www.affordablemobiles.co.uk/paymonthly/orange-offers.html%23results#results

• Tesco Mobile – http://www.tescocontractmobilephones.com/paymonthly/orange/dolphin30/smartphones/htc-p6500/789557.html~feature

• Orange Business - http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop

• 02 (Branded as a XDA Mantel) - http://xda.o2.co.uk/devices/xda_mantle.jsp

• These mobile phone suppliers and etech Ltd can also supply the PDAs free of charge on various 18 month business tariffsfrom £30 +vat per month.

 There is no charge for e-Tech Ltd to load your handheld device with the SMART-inventory software.
e-Tech raises their revenue via SMART-inventory report-generation click-charges of £5.50+vat per inventory created. You will contract direct with e-Tech Ltd to pay these click charges. (There is a minimum monthly charge of £10 + Vat, per month on the system).

 You will receive a contract from e-Tech which includes arrangements for the direct debit payment of your click-fees. We receive nothing from your e-Tech click fees; our income is only from any Inventory-Portal training course fees and Licensed Inventory Scheme subscriptions.

Once you are a qualified Licensed Inventory Scheme Member, you will have a further skill set to take to the property market.

 Any former LIP’s members who wish to join the new LIS scheme may do so for a reduced first years’ subscription of £25+Vat to cover admin costs.

Inventory-Portal Ltd (IPL) received no financial benefit from any payments to the former LIPS Scheme, as the new LIS scheme is wholly part of Inventory Portal Ltd, a private Limited Company, not connected in any way financially to the former businesses of property-careers ltd or the LIPS scheme.

This reduced price LIS membership for former LIPS members will expire on the 31 March 2010, the anniversary of the original LIPS Scheme which started on 1 April 2009. To renew LIS Membership thereafter, a full renewal fee will then be required.

Most ex LIPS Members are going to Hiscox Ltd for a combined PI and PLI insurance policy as Inventory Clerks.

It costs circa £23 per month on Direct Debit. The policies are normally turned around quite fast too.

The cost of insurance was covered by the old LIPS scheme before, but now this has gone your inventory click-fees to eTech ltd are effectively reduced from £10+Vat to £5.50+Vat per report, so you have another £4.50 per inventory to cover your PI/PLI insurance etc.

Also annual LIS subscriptions are only £150+ Vat pa, whereas LIPS was £200+ Vat per annum, so for a DEA or Inventory Clerk writing say, 10 inventories per week the comparison is.

Under the old LIPS scheme doing 10 reports per week (520 reports pa)

LIPS subs £200 pa, plus 520 clicks@ £10.00 each = Total £5,400 +Vat pa

Under new LIS scheme the same clerk doing 520 reports pa will pay

LIS subs £150 pa, plus 520 @ £5.50 each  = Total £3,010 +Vat pa

So, under the new LIS scheme there is an annual saving of £2,300+ Vat.

Insurance costs: Your £250k PI and £1 million PLI policy with Hiscox for example should cost circa £280 p.a. inc Tax, so, the LIS scheme represents a comparative net saving of over £2,000+ Vat pa.

NB Even for a Clerk doing only 3 inventories a week, there would still be a very significant saving under LIS after paying your own PI and PLI premiums, of about £750+vat pa compared to the old LIPS scheme.

I hope this helps ex LIPS Members and we look forward to welcoming you all into LIS very soon.

Auditing will commence as soon as you lodge your first inventory after the Scheme commencement date of 1 Sept 2009. In accordance with the LIS scheme’s Audit protocols the Scheme’s will select the:

• First five Reports per member, and thereafter:

• One randomly selected report per calendar month will be sampled and audited against the published standards of the LIS scheme.

• Where issues are raised through this sampling, the frequency of sampling will be increased and sustained until it is apparent that the Member is meeting the standards of the Scheme again.
 

Yes.

Our objective as a Licensing Scheme is to raise the standards and professional image of inventory providers. We will acheive this by encouraging more inventory clerks to join the Licensed Inventory Scheme.

We welcome experienced Inventory Clerks from other professional organisations such as APIP or AIIC, providing they can meet our entry requirements.

Contact us for more information, but if you can supply the following documentation:-

•  a brief CV and proof of inventory training course/courses attended.
•  2 recent inventory reports for Audit (with site notes if separate). These must contain photographs and be delivered electronically.
• proof of your current Professional Indemnity insurance and General Liability insurance cover.
•  an in-date CRB check (minimum requirement is the Disclosure Scotland report - available online)

Assuming all the above is in order, you will be invited to join the Licensed Inventory Scheme on our standard terms and become part of our QA and Audit regime, enabling you to use the LIS scheme "Accredited Member"  logo.

 This help is available direct from e-Tech’s technical support team. Contact e-Tech directly on 0844 848 1623 or go to www.etech.net for details. They want you to succeed with the PDA hardware and software as e-Tech’s business model relies on your continued use of their SMART-inventory software and generating report click-charges. e-Tech can offer telephone support and attendance at refresher days for anyone that needs extra help.

Alternatively contact us at info@inventory-portal.co.uk with your specific query and we will endeavour to make sure you get the answers you need. You could always attend further training arranged by Inventory-Portal ltd

There is a car charger available for your PDA. This will enable you to keep your PDA charging in between jobs. There are also higher capacity batteries available from most good stockists of the XTC P6500.

 With all new items of technology, practice makes perfect. The general rule of thumb is to always have the light source behind you. If in doubt, take a few pictures and delete the ones you do not like.

Some of our members have found that by using a large halogen torch in the room improves the quality of the photograph. You can purchase a rechargeable halogen torch from any good retailer. See the link below.

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9788867&ecamp=trf-005&CAWELAID=266888219

 The best way to send all inventories back to your clients is by electronic mail or by supplying them with the web-link and report reference number.

If you do wish to print them out, make sure you have allowed for this in your charges as some inventories can be over 50 pages long.

 We understand that mistakes will happen. It depends on where the mistake has been made. If you notice it prior to uploading your report data, you will be able to amend the inventory on the PDA in time. If you notice it after the inventory has been returned to you, you can still amend it via the e-Tech system.

If you realise the mistake after the final sign off of a report, you may need to create a duplicate Report and re-lodge it to replace the error’d case but you must inform LIS in this instance, in case it could be a report that is to be audited and if we were to audit the original, error’d report the results could go against you.

 We have had many very positive responses from LIS Members who are already producing fee-earning SMART-inventories.

Clients like the SMART-inventory report’s clarity and embedded pictures, but more importantly, the fact that the reports are being carried out by Independently, Licensed and Audited Professionals.

At Inventory-Portal Ltd we are confident that the Licensed Inventory Scheme and the SMART-Inventory Report will become highly sought after quality brands in the UK lettings market.

Yes,

For those trainees for  whom the PDA system is just not suitable, we can recommend other dictation based packages that may help the individual to remain in the inventory supply business.

These are usually web based or downloaded templates into which photographs from a digital camera are pasted and the dictated notes are then typed up alongside.

These formats have more back office activity and are therefore more time consuming at home, but the dictation on site may be faster than completing all the data input directly into the PDA system, for some individuals.

These other systems are acceptable to the Licensed Inventory Scheme, as long as they create good reports with embedded photographs and can be delivered electronically for audit.