Move-In Move-Out Inspection 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.

What are some commonly overlooked steps renters miss when moving out?NEVER skip the move-out inspection. Ever. That’s your ONLY chance to verify that everything is in working order when you hand over the keys. Make sure you get a copy of the inspection form, showing that everything is in working order and no problems were found that could affect the return of your security deposit. If the landlord tells you he only has one copy and will have to mail you one, take a photo with your phone of the original. If he’s a decent landlord, he won’t mind one bit.Notify the landlord of the exact day you expect to vacate the premises. Don’t just leave. Until you actually hand over the keys, you are responsible for the property. Which means if there’s a break in because you left on Saturday but didn’t tell the landlord until Monday, you’re responsible for the damages.Read your lease regarding move out cleaning. Our leases, for instance, require the tenant to have the carpets professionally cleaned. We can, and have, withheld money from security deposits when they didn’t. But… if it was a long-term tenant and we planned to do renovations or put in new flooring, we would waive that requirement. So ASK about the move out cleaning requirements to see if anything can be waived.

Here’s a list of silly things I’ve been pulled over for. Some resulted in tickets, some did not. I suppose some of these are perfectly “legal” reasons to stop someone but, as you’ll see, they’re not exactly good reasons to stop someone. If an officer wants to pull you over, they can and will, legal or not.A dirty license plate.Window tint too dark TWICE. It wasn’t too dark, it was at or lighter than the legal limit. Also, the police don’t have a way to test to determine the darkness in the field.My registration sticker being placed in the wrong location on my license plate. This was ironic because the factory license plate holder obscured the sticker in its intended location so I moved to make it easier to see.Failing to signal when selecting a lane. Not changing lanes, but when the lane split from one to two, I entered a lane without signaling.Moving out of a police car’s way so he could proceed though an intersection. He had light and sirens on, and several other police cars sped around us. He perceived my moving out of the way as “running a red light”.Suspicion of hit and run. My car matched a description of another so they inspected my car for about 30 minutes.I was stopped for speeding (which I totally was) but the officer informed one of my passengers she could be arrested for not providing a form of identification. She didn’t have a driver's license at the time and had no reason to be carrying identification. That’s NOT something you can arrested for.