When you have a new tenant move in it is imperative you do a complete tenant walkthrough with them to protect yourself later.
The idea of this walkthrough is to provide a baseline for the state of your property at the time of the tenant move in and that you can use to compare with the properties condition when they move out.
You’ve put in all this time and effort to create a great place for someone to live. You’ve cleaned, painted, freshened it up and the walkthrough is helping you capture the condition in time.
Now, if you’re one of those landlords who simply doesn’t give a damn and never paints or cleans up their place before trying to throw a new tenant in, you can ignore all this.
If however you’re serious about succeeding as a successful landlord, you’ll do tenant walkthroughs every single time you place a new tenant and have a system for it so you don’t miss anything!
The Two Most Important Tenant Walkthrough Points
The two biggest mistakes landlords make when doing a tenant walk through are the following.
First, doing the walkthrough after giving the tenant keys.
The tenants absolutely DO NOT get keys until you have completed the walk through and agreed on it, which brings me to the second important point.
Second, the tenants must sign off on the walkthrough and agree to it.
A walkthrough without the tenants signature, and the date it took place, simply doesn’t count.
The reason you need to complete both of these tasks before providing keys is to protect yourself.
If you don’t do the walkthrough prior to handing over keys there is no incentive for the tenants to actually complete it.
If you don’t have the tenant sign off that they are in agreement with the walkthrough there’s no proof they were there for it, or whether it was accurate!
Worse yet in some areas, like where I have properties, without a signed complete walkthrough it makes it virtually impossible to retain any of the security deposit for damages or repairs needed after the tenant moves out.
It comes down to there is no proof that that gaping hole in the wall wasn’t there when they moved in…
You’ve simply got to make sure you get both done before you release keys.
What Should A Walkthrough Include?
An effective walkthrough needs to address each room in the property including bathrooms and combined spaces like dining/living rooms and even outbuildings like garages and sheds.
It needs to point out the overall condition of the walls, the doors, the windows,the flooring, the ceilings and even the electrical plugins and switches.
It should point out missing windows screens or holes in screens, stains on carpets or gouges on floors and damages to the walls and/or ceiling.
Basically creating a history of the condition now that you’ll need to compare to the condition on move out.
Pro Tip – When we do walk throughs we also take pictures and/or video of the condition for additional proof and we ALWAYS make sure to include several images showing the tenants on site during the inspection.
The images or video with the tenants help to prove they were actually there at the inspection and the images can help prove the condition of the property at time of move in.
Proper and thorough walk throughs are an integral part of ensuring your success long term as a landlord that you need to make sure they are completed and gone through with every single new tenant you put in place.
Do you have a walkthrough process already? Would you like me to break down our process in a future article? Let me know in the comments and be sure to share this with any landlords you know that could use a little guidance!
Awesome tips. Thanks Bill. I’m new at doing my own PM so would love to see a walkthrough and move in/out checklist etc.
I have used the ones from LTAB. If not using theirs, how do you get a carbon copy to the tenant? Or do you give one to the tenant?
Thanks Teesha,
I’m hoping to put together a fairly lengthy walk through within the next couple weeks as there has been quite a bit of interest in the idea, now I just need to find the time 8′]
For supplying copies to the tenant it gets a bit tricky depending on where you are and what’s allowed. I create two copies and make the same notes on each and we sign both. Legally that’s a strong maybe whether it’s acceptable as they are not identical duplicates.
Some jurisdictions will insist they need to be identical otherwise it doesn’t count. So option two would be to fill out all the forms, capture the signed completed form on your phone preferably in a PDF format and email it onsite to the tenant.
Or you could take the copy both fo you signed home, or to a copying place like Staples and copy it sending them a copy later or dropping it off ta the property later that day for them.
Old school way you could use carbon copy paper,if you can find it, which is the idea many of the old format tenancy rules still reflect. Some jurisdictions get it, some don’t, you may need to tailor your solution to what works in your area. Make sense?
Bill
Hey Bill,
We do a walk through every time, using an extensive list for each room. Additionally, we have a cleaning schedule detailing step by step the cleaning of each appliance/room, which we then use again at the move out. This ensures continuity in our processes and because we’ve done it on the way in, tenants know what’s expected at the move out. Of course, tenants receive a copy of the documents.
One question though: Can you speak to how to charge for carpet stains that are unable to be removed if you aren’t at the point of changing the flooring? Thanks.
Hi Sheri,
Carpet stains without replacing the carpet are a tricky proposition. You’re supposed to only be able to charge for repairs, if you can’t make the stain disappear it’s not a repair… possibly….
You can charge for a treatment on it, but it gets rather subjective whether it’s worth $20 or $75 for that treatment and then whether you’re doing it or bringing someone in.
So I don’t have a definitive answer for you unfortunately so in the end it comes down to documentation (you have an extensive list you mention) and photos showing before and after in case you get challenged on any charges. And even in that case if a tenant were to fight it, depending on how bad it is it could potentially get thrown out and you have to pay the tenant the fee you charged.
Bill
yup, I would like to see a walkthrough process…
Great Neil, now you’re making me do more work! OK, let me see what I can put together over the next week or so.
Bill