Move-In Inspections Form: Fill & Download for Free

The first apartment my ex husband and rented was a 2 story 2 bedroom 1 1/2 bath with a very small 10 x 8 completely dirt back yard. It was hard pan soil and nothing grew there, not even weeds. We had 2 dogs. We lived there about a year and a half and decided to move to a house with a bigger yard for the dogs. When we moved in, the master bedroom had an iron burn on the carpet from the previous tenants, but it was noted in the move in inspection and was easily covered with a nightstand so we didn’t insist it be fixed.We move out and I’m expecting out $500 deposit because we completely did a move out deep clean and there was no damage from the time we lived there. So about two weeks after we move out I received an envelope from the property management company and was like great got the deposit back. Only instead of a check for the deposit, it was a bill for $1800 in damages!They claimed that we left the house trashed, with dog crap in the closets, tons of trash in the backyard that they had to pay $200 to get hauled off, and they wanted us to replace the entire carpet in the apartment because of the iron burn! I called them right away and was like oh hello no this is so fake! The lady argued with me that she went and saw it for herself and that I was wrong. I told her the carpet burn was there when we moved in and it should be on the walkthrough inspection. She said the property manager who originally rented to us had left the company and took all the move in sheets with her so I had to replace it. It was my first apartment rental and I was a terrible record keeper back then. I didn’t keep our copy because I had no idea how important it was. But at any rate, I told her we were not paying these crazy charges and I never did. They didn’t try to sue me because they knew they were lying. Now I know to keep those move in inspection forms and always take pictures of each room and the yard with a newspaper to show the date if possible!Well, I own my house now so I guess that won’t be an issue anymore.

I see several possibilities here. First, he can try to charge you for pretty much anything. Can he legally charge you? Probably not. Will that stop him? Probably not.You rented from Landlord A and moved in, with the damages already there. Later Landlord B bought the property and now wants to charge you for damages. Legally he can’t charge you for the damage.You rent from Landlord A, move in, damage the apartment in some way, then Landlord B buys it and charges you for the damage, even though it was done while A owned it. Yes, he has a legal right to charge you for that damage.Landlord B buys the property and promptly rents to you. You never dealt with Landlord A and Landlord B has not carefully inspected the property, so when you move in, you see damage there that you realize must have happened when Landlord A owned it. Legally you can’t be charged for the damage.I’m sure someone can dream up other possibilities, but unless you made the damages, legally you should not be charged for them. However, you might still be charged and still be responsible for paying for them. Most responsible landlords will do a move-in inspection and record all damage on a form before you move in. Then they give you a copy of that form where you document anything that is inaccurate on it. For instance, there may be a crack in a window, but it’s small. Do NOT say or think, “Well, that’s barely noticeable, they missed it, so I’ll skip it.” DOCUMENT it! If not, when you move out, they’ll probably see it and charge you for it.You may look at their list of charges and say, “But that was there when I moved in?’ Prove it - because that’s what you’ll have to do. You didn’t put it on the move-in inspection form, so you have basically said, “I didn’t see this when I moved in.” (Which amounts to, “This wasn’t there when I moved in.”)It’s probably too late for your current situation, but when you move in, take photos of ALL the damage to document it. (Do this in addition to any move-in inspection form.) Then, when you move out, take photos of the apartment to show what is NOT damaged so they can’t, for example, bill you for a hole in the wall the painters made later.People don’t like having to take photos and keep them in situations like this. That’s why landlords almost always win in lawsuits and cases like this - they document everything and tenants do not.For more on that, see Hal Vaughan's answer to How can I win in a disagreement with my landlord? Why do landlords always seem to win? I cover some of the issues where tenants tend to lose when they go up against a landlord.

If you have a copy of the move-in inspection form and/or photos of the carpet as it was when you got there, you can fight it in small claims court. It's even possible you could be entitled to more than the $500 they are charging you for the carpet if you win. If you don't have the form or photos, you could try to find credible witnesses to the actual condition of the carpet, but you'd have a harder time winning. You could always try to reason with your former landlord or property manager if you haven't already.