While handing keys over to a new tenant may feel like you’ve crossed the finish line, it’s far from where your landlord journey ends. In fact, it’s just the beginning, as you can expect to periodically visit your property when conducting routine rental inspections.
Regular rental inspections are the best way to monitor your property’s condition throughout a lease. However, you must know what to look for to properly evaluate your rental’s condition and address maintenance needs. Below, we’ve compiled a step-by-step guide to rental inspections to ensure your next property visit is worthwhile.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through the ins and outs of rental inspections by answering the following questions:
- What are rental inspections?
- Why are rental inspections important?
- What are the types of rental inspections?
- How do you conduct rental inspections?
- Why is property maintenance important?
Rental Inspections: What They Are and Why They’re Important
A rental inspection occurs when a landlord or property manager periodically visits their rental property to assess its condition and maintenance needs. These inspections are typically conducted during crucial moments in the rental cycle, such as move-in, move-out, and mid-lease. However, the timing and frequency of rental inspections can vary from landlord to landlord, as some might be subject to stricter parameters depending on their state laws.
Rental inspections are crucial to monitoring and maintaining a property’s condition. By paying your property periodic visits, you can identify maintenance issues before they escalate into more significant problems. Rental inspections also allow you to keep your tenants accountable and ensure they adhere to their lease terms. This accountability helps maintain respect between you and your renter, helping sustain a good landlord-tenant relationship.
Why Conduct Rental Inspections?
While routine rental inspections can be tedious, they’re essential to your rental’s success. Regularly visiting your property will put maintenance tasks on your radar if they weren’t already flagged by your current occupants. And as we just mentioned, it will also give you the opportunity to ensure tenants are abiding by their lease agreement, ensuring that your property is in the hands of responsible and respectful occupants.
Preventive maintenance
For many landlords, preventative maintenance is the first thing that comes to mind when conducting a rental inspection. This means catching maintenance issues in their earliest stages and addressing them before they evolve into bigger, more expensive projects. Some common preventative maintenance tasks include:
- HVAC check-ups
- Pest control
- Roof inspections
- Gutter cleanings
- Painting
- Appliance repairs
- Landscaping
- Plumbing fixes
Doing a maintenance roundup for these above tasks will ensure your property is in consistently good condition, saving you and your tenants stress from major maintenance breakdowns down the line.
Tenant accountability
Tenant accountability is another priority for landlords conducting rental inspections. Though renters agree to certain rules upon signing their lease, there are limited ways to monitor whether they abide by them. This is where rental inspections come into play.
For example, if you don’t allow pets in your rental, rental inspections are an opportunity to check for unauthorized pets. Another thing you might look for is excessive property damage that goes beyond normal wear and tear. This could be another sign that your tenant is not abiding by their lease agreement or properly caring for your property.
Legal compliance
As a landlord, it’s your legal responsibility to provide renters with a safe and habitable living environment. Regular rental inspections will help determine whether your home meets proper safety standards. If it isn’t, that should be your sign to get ahead of maintenance issues before it’s too late. Otherwise, you might face legal disputes or negligence claims from current or future tenants.
Types of Rental Inspections
Not all rental inspections are created equal. In fact, there are six distinct types of rental inspections that vary in timing and purpose. For example, some inspections occur at the beginning of a lease, while others occur at the end. Some inspections occur inside the home, while others only examine the exterior.
Read below as we break down the six types of rental inspections:
Move-in inspections
A move-in inspection occurs at the beginning of a renter’s lease. During this visit, you and your tenant will survey the property and make note of any pre-existing damage. This will ensure your tenant’s security deposit is not affected by any property damage that occurred before they moved in. Just remember to thoroughly document all findings from the move-in inspection so that you can reference them during the move-out. Otherwise, you might accidentally fault your tenant for damage they did not cause.
Quarterly inspections
Quarterly inspections occur every three months of a 12-month lease term. The primary goal of these rental inspections is to prepare a property for seasonal changes. For example, you might pay extra attention to your air conditioning during the spring-summer inspection. This way, you’ll know that your property is equipped to take on the summer heat.
Routine inspections
Routine inspections do not adhere to a fixed schedule and are conducted sporadically, making them effective for monitoring tenant compliance. For example, if you suspect a tenant of violating the lease agreement but don’t have concrete evidence, a routine inspection can help confirm your suspicions. Just make sure to give your tenant proper notice and document the inspection findings.
Drive-by inspections
Resonating with their name, drive-by inspections occur when a landlord monitors their rental by driving past. These inspections are strictly used to examine a property’s exterior and do not require any coordination with tenants. Though not as thorough as other types of inspections, drive-by inspections are great if you’re short on time. And if you do notice any significant issues during this inspection, you can schedule a more in-depth visit with your tenant.
Move-out inspections
Move-out inspections occur at the end of a tenant’s lease. During this inspection, you’ll take note of the property’s condition and compare it to its move-in state. If you notice damage beyond normal wear and tear that wasn’t there during the move-in inspection, you can calculate the repair cost and deduct it from the tenant’s security deposit. Some examples of these damages include unauthorized renovations, flooring tears, holes in walls, broken appliances, or excessive garbage.
Change-in-ownership inspections
If you decide to purchase another occupied rental property, you can conduct a change-in-ownership inspection. This allows you to assess the property and identify any necessary repairs. Additionally, it's an opportunity to introduce yourself to the current tenants, address any questions they might have, and confirm the specifics of their existing lease agreement.
Conducting a Rental Inspection
A rental inspection is a multi-step process that involves organization, communication, and attention to detail. As a landlord, you must demonstrate these attributes before, during, and after inspection.
Below, we’ve broken down rental inspections into three main parts to help you conduct a successful visit.
Preparing for the inspection
During the days leading up to your inspection, you should review your leasing agreement, talk to your tenants, and prepare an inspection checklist. Familiarizing yourself with the lease terms will remind you of the expectations set for your tenant. It will also indicate which specific areas or activities were covered on the lease, such as pet ownership or lawn upkeep.
Next, you’ll need to notify your tenants of your visit. For any type of rental inspection, you must notify your tenants at least 24 hours before entering the property. Not only is this a common courtesy, but it’s also a local mandate in most states. If you forget to provide notice, your tenant could claim you violated their privacy or right to quiet enjoyment.
Lastly, you’ll want to prepare a rental walk-through checklist before your arrival. This list should cover your property from head to toe, ensuring you don’t miss any critical areas during the inspection. Rather than going off memory, use your checklist to guide you throughout the inspection and record any needed repairs.
Download this PDF for a thorough rental inspection checklist template.
During the inspection
Using your above-mentioned rental checklist, you’ll systematically go through the property and check for any maintenance issues. Whether it be a leaky faucet or a faulty smoke detector, keep your eyes peeled for any glaring issues that could affect your property’s safety and livability.
If you do come across any maintenance issues, make sure to get visual documentation. This will be valuable for your records and allow you to better explain your concerns to contractors. In doing so, you might also want to speak with your tenant to get their take on potential issues. This could give you additional insight into the extent of repairs and what needs to be done.
After the inspection
After completing the inspection, you should review your checklist and compile your document findings. Then, if applicable, you can create a course of action for repairs or renovations. Once you have a plan, run it by your tenants to ensure it works for them. If repairs require professional attention, try scheduling visits at times that don’t inconvenience your renters. Though not required, this will show courtesy and help maintain an amicable landlord-tenant relationship.
Once your maintenance tasks are taken care of, it’s critical to document each repair. This includes receipts, photos of the repaired area, and any other communication with tenants during repair times. All of these materials will come in handy should a dispute arise later on.
Promoting Property Maintenance
Property maintenance is a pillar of success when it comes to rentals. Ensuring your property is well-maintained, aesthetically pleasing, and up to safety standards will attract top-quality renters and make your listing a contender. Not to mention, maximizing your rental’s potential with property maintenance allows for more competitive pricing, meaning you can charge higher rental rates and increase your overall revenue.
Importance of regular maintenance
Investing in regular maintenance is one of the best things you can do for your rental property. Rather than overlooking repairs, regular maintenance involves taking a preventative approach to property upkeep. By setting an intentional rental inspection schedule, you can monitor your rental’s condition and ensure its longevity for current and future renters.
Tracking maintenance costs
While regular maintenance saves you from future costly repairs, it does come with a fair share of upfront costs. Whether it be changing air filters, updating appliances, or freshening up paint jobs, maintenance comes at a price. However, these repairs can often be written off when filing taxes, which is where tracking maintenance costs comes into play.
Tracking expenses with Apartments.com is the best way to stay on top of your maintenance costs. Our user-friendly expense tracker lets you easily document and monitor all maintenance expenses, ensuring accurate financial records. You can input detailed descriptions for each repair, helping you keep track of what was done while also attaching receipts for verification and reference. This feature simplifies record-keeping and supports effective budgeting by categorizing expenses for tax purposes.
Navigate Rental Inspections with Apartments.com
Rental inspections come with the territory of being a landlord. And while they may seem tedious at times, they’re crucial to maintaining your property and protecting your investment.
With Apartments.com’s suite of Rental Tools at your disposal, you can stay organized, monitor maintenance needs, and maintain a healthy relationship with your renters. Whether conducting your first-ever rental inspection or your 50th, trust that our tools and resources will help you navigate the process with ease. Sign up today to take complete control of your rental property and master the art of rental inspections. Happy inspecting!
