To fill out a move-in inspection form properly, walk the rental unit room by room the day you get the keys, write specific descriptions of every existing flaw, back the form up with dated photos and video, and return the signed form to your landlord within the window your lease sets, usually three to seven days. The form creates the baseline your landlord will compare against when you move out, so anything you don’t record becomes something you may have to explain later.
Do This Before You Unpack
Check your lease first. Most leases give you between three and seven days after move-in to complete and return the form, and missing that window weakens your position even if the documentation itself is thorough. Treat the inspection as your first task in the unit, ahead of unpacking.
Your landlord or property manager usually supplies the official form. If you don’t get one, make your own room-by-room list covering every surface, fixture, and appliance, and get the landlord to sign it. Either way, bring:
- A smartphone or camera with date, time, and location tagging turned on.
- A flashlight for under sinks, closet corners, and behind appliances.
- A pen and notebook for observations you’ll transfer to the form.
- Your lease, so you can check the required form format, timeline, and submission method.
If you can, schedule the walkthrough when the landlord or property manager can join you. Disagreements about existing conditions get resolved on the spot instead of by email weeks later.
How to Walk the Unit
Work through one room at a time. In each room, start at the ceiling and move down to the walls, then the floor, then the fixtures. That top-down pattern keeps you from skipping surfaces. A typical form covers the living room, kitchen, each bedroom, each bathroom, hallways, and any outdoor spaces such as porches, balconies, or a garage.1Salisbury University. Tenant Move-In and Move-Out Property Checklist
In every room, check:
- Ceilings for cracks, water stains, peeling paint, and missing light fixtures or covers.
- Walls for holes, dents, scuff marks, nail holes, and discolored patches that suggest earlier repairs.
- Floors for scratches on hardwood, tears or stains in carpet, cracked or loose tiles, and warped areas near bathrooms or kitchens.
- Windows and doors for cracked glass, broken locks or latches, torn screens, and doors that stick or don’t close flush.
- Cabinets and closets for loose handles, sagging shelves, doors that swing open on their own, and interior stains.
Test Everything Mechanical
A visual check isn’t enough for anything that runs. In the kitchen, turn on every stove burner and confirm the oven heats. Open the refrigerator and freezer to check that temperatures adjust and interior lights work, and look for pooled water. Run the dishwasher through a short cycle and check underneath for leaks. Test the garbage disposal. Run hot and cold water at the faucet and inspect under the sink for moisture, corrosion, or water stains.
In each bathroom, run the shower and tub faucets to check pressure and drainage. Flush every toilet more than once. Look at the caulking around tubs and showers for gaps, discoloration, or mold, and check under the sink the same way you did in the kitchen.
Throughout the unit, test every electrical outlet with a phone charger or small lamp, flip every light switch, and run the HVAC in both heating and cooling modes. Press the test button on every smoke and carbon monoxide detector. Note anything non-functional on the form and tell your landlord right away, since working smoke detectors are a legal requirement in nearly every jurisdiction.
Look for the Problems That Hide
Some of the most expensive issues don’t announce themselves, and these are exactly the ones that get blamed on tenants if they weren’t recorded at move-in. Yellow or brown ceiling stains, bubbling paint, warped drywall, and peeling wallpaper often indicate water intrusion. Discoloration in black, green, white, or gray on window frames, bathroom grout, vents, or plumbing surfaces can signal mold, as can a musty smell that doesn’t clear with ventilation. Excessive condensation on windows or pipes suggests humidity problems.
For pests, check kitchen cabinets, closet corners, and the areas behind the refrigerator and stove for droppings, egg casings, or gnaw marks. You don’t need to diagnose anything. You just need a dated record that the condition existed before you moved in.
Writing Entries the Form Can Actually Defend
Once the walkthrough is done, transfer everything to the official form. Fill in the administrative fields first: your full name, the property address, unit number, and the exact date of the inspection.
If the form uses condition codes such as “G” for good, “F” for fair, and “D” for damaged, apply them consistently. But codes on their own won’t protect you. Use every comment box, margin, and notes section to add specific descriptions. “D” next to “Living Room Floor” means nothing six months later. “D — two deep scratches near south wall, each approximately 6 inches, visible in photo #14” gives you something a judge can evaluate. If the form doesn’t have enough space, write “see attached” and staple a continuation sheet.
Be equally specific about small stuff. “Small scratch, about 2 inches, on west wall near light switch” is useful. “Scratch on wall” is not.
Don’t skip rooms or sections that look fine. Mark clean, undamaged areas as being in good condition. A blank entry is ambiguous: it could mean the area was perfect, or it could mean you didn’t check. Explicitly noting “good condition” for every section eliminates that argument.
Both you and the landlord should sign and date the completed form. The landlord’s signature confirms they’ve seen your observations and had a chance to dispute them. If your landlord won’t walk through with you or refuses to sign, note the refusal on the form, sign it yourself, and send a copy by a method that creates a delivery record.
Photos and Video Are What Win Disputes
The written form is your foundation. Photos and video are what actually settle arguments. Take more than you think you need. Photograph every wall, floor, ceiling, and fixture in every room, even where nothing is wrong, then take close-ups of any existing damage. Work corner to corner so you capture the full space with no blind spots.
Keep timestamp and GPS tagging enabled on your device. The embedded metadata in modern smartphone photos records the exact date, time, location, and device, which makes the images harder to challenge later. Preserve the original files rather than screenshots or edited copies, because editing strips or alters the metadata.
Video captures things a still image can’t, like a faucet that drips only after running for thirty seconds or a door that swings open on its own. Do a slow, steady walkthrough of each room and narrate as you record: state the date, the room, and what you’re pointing the camera at. That narration creates an audio timestamp that reinforces the visual.
Back everything up to cloud storage or a separate drive the same day. Phones break, get lost, and fill up.
What Counts as Damage, and What Doesn’t
Knowing the difference helps you decide what’s worth documenting closely. HUD defines normal wear and tear as deterioration that happens naturally through ordinary use over time; tenant damage goes beyond that natural use.2National Low Income Housing Coalition. HUD Normal Wear and Tear Appendix
Under HUD guidelines, normal wear and tear includes fading or peeling paint, small nail holes, carpet worn thin from foot traffic, minor scuff marks, a rusty shower rod, loose cabinet handles, and grouting that has become dirty or loose in the bathroom. Landlords absorb these as a cost of doing business. Tenant damage covers things like large holes in walls, unauthorized paint or drawings, carpet with burns or stains, broken windows, doors ripped from hinges, missing fixtures, and chipped enamel in tubs or sinks.2National Low Income Housing Coalition. HUD Normal Wear and Tear Appendix
You still want everything on the form. Recording the current condition and, where you can tell, the age of carpet, paint, and appliances at move-in limits what you can be charged for at move-out.
Submitting the Form and Keeping Proof
Return the completed, signed form to your landlord or property manager by whatever method your lease requires, and do it inside the deadline your lease sets.
Whatever the method, build a paper trail. Hand-delivering? Get a signed receipt or have the landlord initial a copy as received. Mailing? Use certified mail with return receipt requested. Submitting through an online portal? Screenshot the confirmation page with the date visible. The point is to eliminate any future claim that the form was never received.
Keep everything for the entire tenancy and for at least a few months after you move out and get your deposit back: the signed form, all photos and video, the delivery confirmation, and any related emails. Store a physical copy and a digital backup. Deposit disputes can surface weeks after move-out, and your evidence has to be reachable when they do.
If You Find Something After You’ve Submitted
You will almost certainly notice something later. A cabinet door that sticks. A slow drain. A stain behind where the movers set the couch. This happens to everyone.
Write a dated addendum describing the condition, photograph it the same way you documented everything at move-in, and send it to your landlord as soon as possible. Reference the original inspection form and note that the addendum supplements it. The sooner you report the issue, the more credible it is that the condition predated your tenancy; flagging something two days after submitting reads very differently from flagging it three months later. Keep a copy of the addendum and its delivery confirmation with your original records.