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What You Should Bring With You to a Walk-Through

What You Should Bring With You to a Walk-Through

It is not easy to say goodbye to a reliable tenant. But when the time comes for them to move out, doing a final walk-through with them is necessary to avoid disputes. Did they take good care of the home or did they make a mess that will be costly to get fixed up? Should they get their full security deposit back or will you need to use part of it for a new paint job on the house? These are questions you can decide during the walk-through. To ensure that you’re properly prepared, here are some important things that you should bring with you to do the walk-through.

If you possibly can, bring the tenant who is on the way out to the walk-through. That makes it a straightforward matter to point out any damage that they caused since they moved into the property. The obvious advantage is that this ensures that the tenant knows how much, if any, of their security deposit they will get back. Since they know right then and there what you’re going to charge them for, there will be less of a chance of a dispute after they leave.

There isn’t any better way to prove any damages than taking pictures. If you see a stain on the carpet, or if there’s a hole in the wall, take a picture. Try to find a camera that prints the date on the photos, too. This just gives you a better piece of evidence. Keep the pictures in a file together with the checklist and whatever other documentation you have that pertains to the rental.

When conducting a walk-through, bring a checklist of things you don’t want to forget about. The checklist should include appliances, windows, walls, paint and anything else you want to inspect. If you can, make a carbon copy completed list so you can provide one to the tenant and keep one for yourself.

All of these things are important to have when doing your walk-through with tenants who are leaving, regardless of how long and steady, or short and troublesome, your business relationship with them has been. Unfortunately, it sometimes happens that tenants just pack up and get out without notice. If that happens, then naturally you’ll just do the walk-through without them. Do your documentation the same way, though. You should also do a walk-through with your new tenants to give them the opportunity to point out any damages beforehand so you can be fair with them and assure them that they won’t get charged for damages they didn’t cause, when they move out. Doing a good walk-through, with the tenant present, is the best way to avoid having conflict regarding damages and security deposits after a tenant has moved out.

This content was presented by the leading experts on Broomfield CO homes for sale, Automated Homefinder.

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