What's your actual walk-through routine between tenants?

Question

Everyone talks about deep cleaning and touch-up paint during turnover, but curious what people actually check beyond the cosmetic stuff. Empty unit is the one time you can really get eyes on everything without working around someone's schedule or belongings.

Started using turnover as a checkpoint for more than just "does it look move-in ready." Pull the water heater's install sticker, glance at the HVAC filter and unit age, check under sinks for anything that's been quietly seeping. None of it takes long, but it's the kind of look you just can't get with a tenant living there.

What's actually on your list when a unit's empty? Just the cosmetic stuff, or do you use it as a chance to check on the bigger systems too?

Ryan Spath · Answer

Beyond all the cosmetic stuff we are looking at all the appliances, hvac, water heater and making sure they are still in good working order, we have crawl spaces here in Idaho so giving these a look over is always a goal too. We want our properties to be prestine no holes in the walls, carpet cleaned by cleaners etc.

WE do a walk through video to establish a video proof of not only the interior but the exterior if this is the tenants obligation. We have a fairly detailed "move in walkthrough checklist" that we go over all the proper items and expectations etc. A new item we have added to this thanks to the help from feedback on this site is a proper expectation of inside temp via the ac during peak summer months, this came up a couple times this summer and this has helped or will help in the future.

Mike Fisher · Answer

Good instinct treating the empty unit as the one clean look you get. I have owned and managed Chicago south and southwest suburb rentals since 1991, and two things live on my turnover walk that go past both cosmetics and systems age.

First, I shoot the empty unit like evidence, not a to-do list. Every room, timestamped photos, before a single thing is touched. That empty-unit set does double duty: it is the closing baseline on the tenant who just left (a deposit itemization holds up when you can show the condition on the day they handed back keys) and it is the move-in baseline for the next tenant. One set of photos, two disputes covered.

Second, I run a safety and liability sweep while the unit is open, because these are inexpensive to fix empty and costly in a claim:
- Smoke and CO detectors tested and dated (Illinois requires both, and a dead detector is the finding that turns an ordinary fire or furnace call into a liability problem).
- GFCI outlets in kitchen and baths, hit the test button, plus window locks and sash function.
- Water shutoffs and the toilet and sink angle stops actually cycled. They seize when they sit for years, and you want to learn that on an empty unit, not at 11pm during a burst-line call with a tenant standing in the room.
- Dryer vent cleared, and caulk and grout at tubs and sinks. Failed grout is the quiet water-damage line item nobody photographs until the subfloor is soft.

Being in Chicagoland I add a winterization pass on any fall turnover: exercise the exterior and laundry shutoffs and confirm heat holds before freeze-thaw season, since a slow leak or a marginal furnace found in October is a planned repair, not a January emergency.

To Benjamin's question on logging: I keep the system ages in a one-line-per-property sheet (roof, HVAC, water heater, appliances, with install year plus rough remaining life) and update it at each turnover. The mental-note version fails the year two systems age out in the same window.

I run MF CashFlow Property Management (M Property Group LLC) out of New Lenox, IL, so I treat every turnover as the least expensive inspection I will get all lease.

Sean McKee · Answer

Pest are a huge one for me. We do regular inspections throughout the year, but with all the stuff in units it's extremely hard to always catch stuff. I've had tenants move out and leave bed bugs, roaches, or forget to mention that mice found a way in through various holes.

It's crazy how some tenants won't say anything......

Adam Bartomeo · Answer

We conduct a 200+ point inspection. Doing a simple walk though as you are suggesting is asking for lots of problems... How do you charge the previous tenant for tenant damages with a simple walk through? How are you ensuring that the new tenant is getting a quality product with a simple walk through? How do you hold the new tenant responsible for items that were broken by the previous tenant?

Ricardo Gonzalez · Answer

Here's what my routine looks like:

First thing I do before touching anything is take time stamped photos of every room, every wall, every corner. That documentation is your evidence if you ever need to withhold part of the security deposit. You want that on record before you move anything or start cleaning. After that I pull up my photos from the previous inspection and walk through the unit comparing everything side by side. That way I'm not relying on memory and nothing slips through. From there I go through the whole place systematically. I clean out all the drains in every sink and bathtub myself rather than waiting for a clog to show up later. Check and replace the air filters. If there's a fridge with a water filter that gets swapped out too. I spray bug spray around the perimeter and along the baseboards inside. Florida bugs will find any excuse to move in if you give them a gap between tenants. For pet damage I pay close attention to the backyard, especially if there was a dog. Holes dug along the fence line or in the yard are easy to miss if you're not specifically looking for them, and they become your problem if you don't document them properly before the next tenant moves in.

The photo comparison piece is probably the most underrated part of the whole process. It's saved me more than once when a tenant pushed back on a deduction

Jim Johnson · Answer

I use the empty unit as a chance to look at everything I normally can’t see as easily with someone living there. I’m checking under sinks, around toilets and supply lines, HVAC, water heater age, windows and locks, smoke/CO detectors, appliances, and any signs of moisture. I’ll also pull up previous inspection photos while I’m there. That comparison has helped me catch things that changed slowly enough that I probably wouldn’t have noticed them otherwise.

Richard F. · Answer

This should not be a random walk around the property while yakking on your phone. It needs to be a deliberate, thorough, visual inspection to pre-established Standards that you develop. These Standards can be as broad, or as detailed as you choose, but they need to be able to be clearly communicated to others...employees or vendors, so they can address appropriately.

Look at every element, every system. Always look for signs of problems...whether that is water intrusion, overheating, improper sealing, poor function, poor appearance, whatever applies.

At a certain point, your employees or vendors should have a clear understanding, either through written or spoken standards, and be able to proceed automatically for routine issues.

If you are constantly changing vendors, or what "done" looks like, every day is a new experience, and that is neither efficient or effective.

Benjamin Sussman · Answer

@Giuseppe Cavucci good call using the empty window for more than cosmetics. @Sean McKee's pest point is a big one too, that's exactly the kind of thing that only shows up when nobody's living there to disturb it. On the systems side, my turnover checklist is basically three questions: how old is it, what's the expected life for that type, and does the gap between those two numbers mean I should budget for it in the next 12 months or just note it and move on. Water heater sticker and HVAC unit tag are the easy ones since they're usually printed right on the equipment. Roof is trickier if you don't have the original permit, sometimes the only record is asking the seller or checking county permit history. I also walk the exterior grading and downspout discharge points while it's empty since that's easy to miss with a tenant's stuff in the way, and standing water against the foundation is a slow, expensive problem if it goes unnoticed for a few cycles. Are you logging the ages you find somewhere central, or is it more of a mental note until the next turnover?

What's your actual walk-through routine between tenants?

What's your actual walk-through routine between tenants?

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