To fill out a rental inventory and condition form, inspect the unit before you move anything in, record the exact condition of every room and fixture in specific written detail, back each note with a dated photograph, and have both you and the landlord sign and keep a copy. The form is the record that decides most security deposit disputes, so the care you take on move-in day is what protects your money at move-out.
Start With the Right Form
Most landlords and property management companies provide their own checklist with the lease packet. If yours doesn’t, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development publishes a free move-in/move-out inspection form (HUD Form 90106) covering every major room and system in a standard dwelling.1HUD. Appendix 5 – Move-In/Move-Out Inspection Form Many state housing agencies publish their own templates as well; a search for your state’s housing authority plus “move-in checklist” will usually turn one up. Tenant-rights organizations and legal self-help sites offer free downloads too.
Whatever form you use, confirm three things before you start. It should cover each room individually, include separate columns for move-in and move-out condition, and have a signature block for both parties. A form that collapses the whole unit into a single comments box isn’t worth filling out.
One boundary worth knowing: roughly twenty states require some version of this form by statute, often tied to the landlord collecting a security deposit. Even where it isn’t legally required, completing one is still the single most effective way to protect your deposit.
Fill In the Header
The top of the form ties the document to a specific lease. Write in the full property address, including the unit or apartment number. Record the exact date of the inspection — this anchors the condition report to your move-in day and matters if the dispute lands in small claims court months later. Both the landlord’s name (or management company) and the tenant’s name should appear exactly as they do on the lease. If more than one tenant is on the lease, list all of them.
Walk Through Room by Room
Do the inspection before any furniture comes in. Once a couch covers a carpet stain or a bookshelf hides a wall crack, that damage becomes invisible, and potentially your financial responsibility when you leave. Walk the unit with the landlord or their representative present, form in hand.
In each room, examine:
- Floors and coverings. Look for stains, burns, tears in carpet, scratched hardwood, cracked tile, and worn or loose grouting.
- Walls and coverings. Note nail holes, scuff marks, peeling paint, water stains, cracks, or crayon marks.
- Ceilings. Check for water damage, cracks, holes from removed light fixtures, or discoloration.
- Windows and coverings. Test that each window opens and locks. Note cracked panes, torn screens, missing or damaged blinds.
- Doors and hardware. Open and close every door, including closets. Check locks, knobs, and hinges.
- Lighting and electrical. Flip every switch and test every outlet. Note missing bulbs, cracked covers, and non-functioning fixtures.
Kitchens and bathrooms need extra attention. In the kitchen, turn on the stove burners, run the dishwasher through a short cycle, open the refrigerator and freezer to confirm they cool, and check under the sink for leaks. Note the condition of cabinets, countertops, and the exhaust fan. In each bathroom, run the sink and shower, flush the toilet, and look for mildew, cracked tiles, missing towel bars, and water damage around the base of the tub or toilet.
Don’t skip the mechanical systems. Test the thermostat, run both heat and air conditioning if the season allows, and press the test button on every smoke detector and carbon monoxide alarm. Check the hot water heater area if accessible, and ring the doorbell. These items are easy to overlook and expensive to argue about later.1HUD. Appendix 5 – Move-In/Move-Out Inspection Form
Write Specific Descriptions
Vague notes like “some damage” or “okay condition” are nearly useless in a dispute. Describe what you see with enough detail that someone who has never been inside the unit could picture it. Write “three small nail holes on the north wall, approximately four feet up” rather than “holes in wall.” Note the size, location, and severity of every defect. If a room or item is in perfect shape, write “no damage” rather than leaving the field blank. An empty space can be filled in later by someone less honest.
Record Utility Meter Readings
If the form has space for it, and even if it doesn’t, record the gas, electric, and water meter readings on move-in day. This creates a clean break between your usage and the previous tenant’s and prevents billing disputes during the account-transfer period. A quick photo of each meter with a visible date stamp takes seconds.
Add Photos and Video
The written checklist is the backbone of your record, but photographs turn it into something a judge can evaluate at a glance. Every defect on the form should have a matching photo. Take wide shots of each room first for context, then close-ups of specific damage. Natural daylight works best; flash can wash out stains and scuffs.
Turn on your camera or phone’s date-stamp feature, or include a newspaper or phone screen showing the date in the first shot of each room. This proves the photos were taken on move-in day. Organize the images in a folder labeled with the property address and date, and back them up to cloud storage immediately through Google Drive, Dropbox, or a similar service. Never leave these photos on a single phone that could be lost or broken.
A video walkthrough is a strong supplement. Narrate what you see as you move through each room, calling out the same defects listed on the form. A two-minute video of a scratched countertop or stained carpet is harder to dispute than a handwritten note.
Know What Counts as Damage
Understanding the line between wear and tear and tenant damage makes you better at spotting what to document. Landlords can deduct from your deposit for damage you caused, but not for deterioration from ordinary daily use over time.
According to HUD guidelines, normal wear and tear includes fading or peeling paint, small nail holes, carpet worn thin from foot traffic, minor scuff marks on walls, loose cabinet handles, floors that need revarnishing, and slightly discolored bathroom grout. These develop in any lived-in space regardless of how careful the tenant is.
Tenant damage is different in kind: gaping holes in walls, doors ripped off hinges, burns or large stains in carpet, broken windows, missing fixtures, chipped enamel in sinks and tubs, and unauthorized paint or wallpaper. The condition form is how you prove which of these problems existed before you arrived. If the form says the carpet already had a stain by the bedroom door at move-in, the landlord cannot deduct for it at move-out. If the form says nothing and the landlord claims the stain is new, you lose that argument without evidence.
Sign, Store, and Handle a Landlord Who Won’t Cooperate
Once every room has been inspected and every field filled in, both you and the landlord sign and date the document. Both signatures matter. A form signed only by the tenant can be dismissed as self-serving; a form signed only by the landlord may not reflect what the tenant actually observed. Each party keeps a copy. Several states legally require the landlord to provide the tenant with a copy of the signed report.
If the landlord refuses to walk through with you or refuses to sign, complete the form yourself, photograph everything, and send a copy to the landlord by email or certified mail so you have a dated record of delivery. Some states treat a landlord’s failure to provide or respond to an inventory report as a waiver of the right to claim certain deductions later.
Store the signed form, all photos, and any video files alongside your lease. Keep a physical copy and a digital backup. You may not need any of this for years, or you may need it in two weeks if something breaks and the landlord blames you.
Use the Same Form Again at Move-Out
The form earns its value when the lease ends. Before you hand back the keys, walk the unit again using the same form. Most templates include a move-out column next to the move-in column for exactly this purpose. Note the current condition of every item and compare it against the original entries. Photograph and video everything again, room by room.
Some states give tenants the right to request a pre-move-out inspection so the landlord can identify problems the tenant still has time to fix before the final walkthrough. If your state offers this option, use it. Repairing a scuffed wall yourself costs a fraction of what a landlord will charge against your deposit.
After you vacate, the landlord compares the unit’s current state to the move-in record. If the landlord claims damage, most states require an itemized written statement listing each deduction, the cost of each repair, and the remaining deposit balance. Deposit-return deadlines vary widely by state, from as few as five days to as many as sixty, and missing the deadline causes a landlord in many jurisdictions to forfeit the right to withhold any portion of the deposit. A thorough, signed, photographed condition form is what gives you the standing to challenge an unfair deduction when that statement arrives.