A rental inspection checklist is not paperwork, it is evidence, and it is only worth anything if it was made before the disagreement it will be used in. That is why the move-in version matters more than the move-out one, and why a checklist filled in hurriedly at handover is a deposit dispute waiting to be lost. This page is about what belongs on the list, how the routine mid-tenancy inspection differs from the two that bookend a tenancy, and what the whole thing actually costs in time.
What belongs on an apartment move in checklist
Every room with the surfaces and fittings you would photograph, the appliances with their condition and any serial numbers, the meters with their readings, the keys handed over, and the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms tested with the date. The list is not long. What makes it evidence is that it is dated, signed by both sides where possible, and accompanied by photographs taken the same day.
The bookends and the routine inspection are different documents
Move-in and move-out checklists exist to be compared with each other, so they must have the same items in the same order or the comparison is worthless. A quarterly rental inspection checklist has a different job: catching the leak, the unreported damage or the unauthorised occupant while there is still time to act. Using the move-in form quarterly produces a lot of paper and very little of either purpose.
What a free download does not give you
A printable rental inspection checklist free download and a property inspection form give you a grid, which is the easy part. What they cannot give is the size of the job: how many items your units actually have, how many photographs that means, and how long the round takes. The worksheet on this site works those from your rooms and items, and the answer is usually the reason move-out inspections get rushed.
Questions people ask about rental inspection checklist
What should be on a rental inspection checklist?
Rooms with their surfaces and fittings, appliances with condition and serial numbers, meter readings, keys, and tested alarms with the date. Photographs against each item are what make it usable later.
How often should I inspect a rental?
Move-in and move-out always, and mid-tenancy as your lease permits and your notice requirements allow. What is permitted is a question for your lease and your state, not for this site.
Do I need the tenant to sign it?
It is worth far more signed, and worth having either way. A checklist with photographs and a date is still evidence when a signature was not obtainable.
How long does an inspection take?
Run the worksheet: rooms times items times minutes, plus appliances, times the units in the round. A five-room unit at eight items comes out at 44 items and 88 photographs, which is not a ten-minute job.