Furniture Inventories

A student room is sometimes a shell and sometimes a bed, a desk, a chair and a rotting sun mattress that everyone will later describe differently. ManjeProp treats house furniture as listed objects. If it is on the incoming inventory, it should be on the outgoing walk. If it was never listed, it is probably the tenant’s — or it is a surprise we should not have allowed.

This is how to make the list useful.

Write objects, not adjectives

“Desk, chipboard, three drawers, left-hand drawer runner stiff, small chip front right, photo 7.” That is an inventory line. “Old desk” is not.

Include:

Bed base and mattress, with stains already present
Desk, chair
Wardrobe if it is free-standing
House fridge or microwave if they are in the room
Curtains if they are house property
Any heater that belongs to the house (and whether it is allowed)

Do not list the tenant’s kettle as house stock. Do not list a broken chair in the yard “in case.”

Photographs do the arguing later

Every listed piece should appear in the incoming set: wide enough to identify, close enough to see the existing stain. The same pieces appear outgoing. A mattress without a corner photo is how a burn becomes a myth.

Do not photograph a student lying on the bed as proof the mattress exists.

Who signs, and where it lives

The inventory is attached to the lease file, with the incoming inspection. Tenant keeps a copy. Staff file it with the unit, not in a contractor WhatsApp group.

Do not put identity numbers on the inventory header. Property, unit, date, names as on the lease.

If a piece is added mid-tenancy — a replacement mattress after a repair — add a line and a photo that day. The repair log and the inventory should agree.

Faults versus wear

A desk runner that fails in month two may be ordinary cheap hardware. Report it on Report a fault as Appliance or General maintenance. A chair used as a ladder and broken is damage. The inventory photo is how those two stories stay separate.

Do not wait until outgoing to mention a house fridge that died in April.

Tenants bringing their own furniture

Say what you will bring if the house is furnished. There may not be space. Do not dump a broken couch in the common area and leave. That is refuse. Do not take a house mattress home “because I bought a better one” without a written change to the list.

If you find furniture that is not on your incoming list and is not yours, ask. It may be a previous unofficial sublet. Do not throw it away until staff have seen it.

Staff and turnovers

Before you advertise, the inventory should match the room you will photograph. If the desk left with the last student, either recover it or change the listing. “Furnished” is a claim.

Log replacements as materials and repairs. A new mattress has a cost in operations. It is not automatically a deposit deduction. Deductions need the evidence pack.

Do not store a pile of half-broken chairs “for the next house.” They become a fire load in a passage.

Shared kitchens and “everyone’s fridge”

A house fridge in a common kitchen needs its own line: brand if you can see it, whether it was cold on day one, existing dents. If it dies in June, that is a ticket, not a December surprise. Do not store your identity documents in the vegetable drawer and then photograph the open fridge.

Microwaves, kettles and toasters are the items people steal from inventories by accident — “I thought it was mine.” Label house goods if the house does that. The list still wins.

Viewers and parents

Ask what stays with the room. Sit on the chair. Look at the mattress corners. If the listing said furnished and the room is empty, write that on the enquiry form.

If a bed is advertised and the base is cracked, that is not a styling issue. It is a safety and inventory issue. Say it on the walk.

An inventory is a dull list that prevents an expensive argument. Make it specific. Photograph it. Change it when the room changes. Do not let a WhatsApp “the desk is fine” replace the line item.

Broken house furniture: report-a-fault · +27 60 313 6961.