Move-out inspection

What it means

A move-out inspection is the walkthrough you do when a tenancy ends, comparing the unit's condition against the record made at move-in and documenting every difference.

It is a comparison, not an assessment. On its own, a move-out inspection proves nothing: a photograph of a scuffed wall says only that the wall is scuffed today. Paired with a move-in inspection showing the same wall clean on the day the tenant took possession, it becomes evidence. This is why the two documents are really one document split across time, and why a move-out inspection without a move-in baseline is close to worthless.

Many states add a second layer: a pre-move-out inspection, offered before the tenant leaves, at which they may be present and after which you must give them written notice of what you intend to charge for. The point is to let them fix things themselves rather than pay your contractor rates. Where this is required, skipping it can bar the deduction entirely, even if the damage is real.

The output is a dated, itemised condition report with photographs, signed by whoever attended, covering every room plus fixtures, appliances, floors, walls, windows, and the keys returned.

Why it matters

The move-out inspection is what converts an opinion into a deduction that survives challenge.

Deposit statutes generally put the burden of proof on the landlord. When a tenant disputes a charge, what a court or a small claims judge wants is a before image and an after image with dates on them. Landlords who arrive with an invoice and a description lose to tenants who arrive with a photograph.

Timing matters as much as content. The statutory clock for returning the security deposit usually starts when possession ends, not when you finish inspecting. A landlord who waits ten days to walk the unit has already spent a third of a 30-day window and most of a 14-day one.

There is a second, quieter payoff. The inspection is where you find the problems that decide your next turn cost — a slow leak under a sink, a failing seal, a dead smoke alarm. Catching those on the day possession ends is far cheaper than discovering them after the next tenant has moved in and the work has to happen around them.

How it works in practice

Run it as a fixed sequence, the same every time.

1. Schedule it for the day possession ends. Possession ends when the keys come back and the tenant's belongings are gone, not when the lease term expires. Where a pre-move-out inspection is required, offer that in writing two to three weeks earlier.

2. Walk in the same order as move-in. Room by room, same rooms, same items, so the two reports line up field for field. Photograph everything you photographed at move-in, from roughly the same position, whether or not anything changed. A picture of an undamaged wall is what proves you looked.

3. Record condition, not conclusions. Write "3-inch gouge, hallway wall, 4 ft from floor," not "damage." The conclusion — whether it is normal wear and tear or chargeable tenant damage — is decided afterwards, against the move-in record.

4. Price it from the record, not from the ceiling. Each chargeable item is apportioned against its useful life. The canonical turnover looks like this:

Item	Amount
Interior repaint (4-year life, 3-year tenancy)	landlord — 850.00
Standard clean to move-in condition	landlord — 320.00
Carpet clean, traffic paths	landlord — 190.00
Rekey	landlord — 140.00
Interior door, kicked through	tenant — 185.00
Cleaning beyond move-in condition	tenant — 220.00
Total turnover work	1,905.00
Of which chargeable	405.00

Most of a turn is yours. That is normal, and a landlord charging most of a turn to the deposit is usually about to lose a deposit case.

5. Produce the itemization within the statutory window, attaching the report and, where required, the receipts. See security deposit itemization.

Common mistakes

• No move-in baseline. The single most common reason deductions fail. Without it, the move-out report documents a condition with no cause attached.
• Inspecting late. The deposit deadline runs from possession, so a slow walkthrough eats the window you need for pricing and mailing.
• Skipping the pre-move-out inspection where it is required. In the states that mandate it, omitting it can void otherwise valid deductions.
• Photographing only the damage. Selective photos read as selective. Shoot the whole unit.
• Charging your own deferred work. Anything that was already broken during the tenancy — see deferred maintenance — stays yours.
• Letting the tenant hand keys to a neighbour. Possession ends when you have the keys and the unit. Document the handover, because it starts the clock.

How BareBones PM helps

BareBones PM keeps the move-in and move-out records on the same lease, in the same structure, so the comparison that decides every deduction is one screen rather than a reconstruction.

Photos and condition notes attach to the lease with their capture dates intact, which is the detail that matters when a report is produced months later in a dispute.

Chargeable items become ledger lines against the held deposit balance, apportioned against the asset record you already keep for carpet, paint and appliances — so the return figure and the itemization are computed from the same source rather than typed twice.

The deposit deadline is tracked from the possession date you record at the inspection, which is the date the statute actually cares about.

For the wider workflow this feeds, see Security deposits done properly.