I do very thorough exit inspections when a tenant moves out of one of my properties. I document everything. I take a bunch of photos. I use the voice memo on my phone and I use a form with a clip board. I plan at least two hours to do a thorough inspection, and sometime end up taking more than that, depending on how bad the property is.
I usually have an idea of what a property will be like from the walk throughs I do while the tenant lives there. This is not always the case. I did a walk through with a new tenant, on a property that I had taken over management on, with her in place and although cluttered the place didn't seem too bad. There was some mildew in the washing machine, which I pointed out to her. She said she would talk care of it. She owned a cleaning company. I thought it was odd that she let the mildew get to the point it did, but figured she would take care of it.
She moved out three months later. She sent me an email a day prior to leaving, stating that she had photo documentation of the condition she was leaving the property and better get her security deposit back. I was shocked at the condition she left the property. I will use the photos I took during that inspection, to highlight some of the things I look for while doing an exit inspection.
Kitchen Floor A/C Filters Dryer Lint Screen Washing Machine
Blinds Burners Baseboards Return Air Grill
Oven Floors Behind Fridge Ceiling Fan
In case you can't see that this fan is covered in dust and dog hair, here is closer view:
This is a an extreme example. Thankfully most of my tenants don't leave the properties this way.
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