by Terrie Porter, Assistant to Joe Maggiore
Anytime you move into or out of a rental, it’s important to document the condition in which the property is received or handed over in the form of a walk through. This helps avoid potential discrepancies from landlord documentation which could leave you accountable for the damage noted at the end of your lease.
We at Desert Dimensions provide our tenants with a move-in checklist which must be completed and returned to our office within 5 days of your lease start date. And although we don’t require further documentation, we also encourage you to take photos of everything noted on the move-in checklist for your own records and reference if needed at the end of your lease. Similarly, when moving out of a home, we do our own walk through of the vacant property (which tenants are not required to be in attendance for), but we encourage you to do your own thorough walk through prior to handing over the keys, again photographing any damage you find.
Here are a few tips for completing a successful walk-through, ensuring that you don’t miss anything noteworthy:
- Don’t move any furniture or boxes inside until you have looked over the entire home, at least once. Furniture or moving boxes may block the floors or walls causing you to miss something.
- Go through, room-by-room with the move-in checklist or a digital camera and take photos of anything that might be relevant.
- If your home has a balcony, storage area or yard, be sure to note these areas as well.
- Turn on all faucets, lights, and turn appliances on and off; make sure windows and doors lock/unlock; go around with a small lamp and plug it in to make sure each socket receives power.