A mobile phone app designed to reduce disputes between landlords and their tenants has been launched.
Housing charity Shelter Scotland created the free Housemate app for iPhones in a bid to help prevent and resolve rows over the return of deposits.
Director Graeme Brown hailed it as a "simple but highly effective" tool.
The Housemate app, which is sponsored by the property services group Orchard and Shipman, generates a full digital inventory of a property's contents and condition, with photos included.
The creators of the app hope these inventories will be so comprehensive that there will be few grounds for argument between landlords and their tenants when it comes to returning a deposit at the end of a tenancy.
Mr Brown said: "Too many tenants have all or part of their deposit withheld unfairly and their chances of arguing successfully for its return are often compromised by a lack of evidence.
"With Housemate, both tenant and landlord will have the proof they need."
The app can be downloaded from the iPhone's app store or from Shelter Scotland's website.
Its creation follows on from the introduction of a new Scottish Government scheme that requires landlords to hand over deposits to an approved third party.
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