Move-In Checklist for Tenants

When to use this checklist

Use it on move-in day, before your boxes and furniture hide the floors and walls. A move-in checklist is your record of the unit’s condition when you got it. When you move out, it’s what separates damage that was already there from damage your landlord might charge to your deposit. Once the record is done, the apartment cleaning checklist has a move-in clean for the empty rooms.

Ask about the move-in form while you’re still touring, with the apartment hunting checklist. Fill this one in even if your landlord gives you their own form. The more specific your notes, the less room there is for a disagreement later. For the weeks before the move itself, the moving checklist dates each step from your move date, and for a first place, the first apartment checklist lists what to buy and set up, room by room.

How to use the generator

1. Add your name, the address and the move-in date, and your landlord’s or property manager’s name.
2. Pick your layout: the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, plus a laundry area, balcony or storage if you have them. The checklist adds a section for each room.
3. Walk through room by room. Check each item once you’ve looked at it, and type a short note for anything that isn’t in good shape.
4. Download the PDF or print it. Items you haven’t noted get a blank line, so you can also fill in the printed copy by hand.
5. Sign it, ask your landlord to sign it, and keep a copy each.

Your answers stay in your browser. A draft is saved on this device, so you can walk through one room at a time and come back. Press Clear to delete it.

Sample move-in checklist

Here’s a checklist filled in with the generator. The names, address and notes are made up.

What to look for in each room

• Be specific. “Two scuffs by the light switch” is more useful than “walls scuffed.” Say where the damage is and roughly how big.
• Test what works. Run every faucet, flush the toilet, turn on each stove burner, open and lock the windows, and press the test button on the smoke alarms.
• Look in the hidden spots: under the sinks, inside cabinets and closets, behind doors, and inside the oven and refrigerator.
• Check for moisture and pests. Water stains, soft spots, a musty smell, droppings or insects are worth noting and reporting right away.
• Write down what’s missing, such as a screen, a shelf or a bulb, not just what’s broken. Note which rooms have no ceiling light, too: the lumens calculator shows how many lamps they’ll need.
• Count your keys, fobs and remotes, and note the meter readings.

Take dated photos and video

The Federal Trade Commission tells renters to take photos as soon as they move in, send them to the landlord right away, especially if there’s damage, and take pictures again when they move out.

Take a wide shot of each room, then close-ups of every problem you noted, with something for scale such as a coin or a tape measure. Keep the files with their original dates, and back them up somewhere other than your phone.

While you’re at it, photograph your own things too. A home inventory helps settle a renters insurance claim, and the renters insurance calculator turns the same list into the coverage you need.

How to share it with your landlord and keep a record

• Do the walk-through together if you can, and both sign the same copy.
• If you do it alone, send your landlord a copy with the photos. Email gives you a dated record right away.
• By mail, proof helps. A Certificate of Mailing costs $2.45 and shows the date you mailed it. Certified Mail costs $5.55 plus postage, and a paper return receipt adds $4.65 (USPS prices from Oct 4, 2026).
• Keep the original with your lease, and keep it until your deposit is back.

California’s official tenant guide calls a checklist filled in by you and your landlord good practice even where the law doesn’t require one, and suggests you both sign, date and keep a copy.

What some states and programs require

Some states, and HUD for the housing it assists, set rules for a move-in checklist or inspection. A few examples:

• Washington: a landlord can't collect a deposit unless the lease is in writing and you get a written checklist of the unit's condition at the start, signed and dated by both of you. (RCW 59.18.260)
• Virginia: the landlord gives you a written move-in report within 5 days after you move in. It counts as correct unless you object in writing within 5 days after you get it. (Code of Virginia 55.1-1214)
• Maryland: you can ask, by certified mail within 15 days after you move in, for the landlord to inspect the unit with you and list the existing damage. (Real Property 8-203.1)
• Massachusetts: a landlord who takes a deposit gives you a statement of the unit's condition when you pay it or within 10 days after the tenancy starts, whichever is later. You can add the damage you find and return it within 15 days after you get it or move in, whichever is later. (General Laws c. 186, §15B)
• Georgia: before you pay a deposit, the landlord gives you a list of existing damage that you both sign. Some small landlords who manage their own units are exempt. (O.C.G.A. 44-7-33 and 44-7-36)
• California: for tenancies that begin on or after July 1, 2025, the landlord takes photos of the unit at move-in. (Civil Code 1950.5(g))
• New York: the landlord offers you a chance to inspect the unit before you move in, and you both sign a written agreement on its condition. Rent-regulated units follow other rules. (General Obligations Law 7-108(1-a))
• Minnesota: you can ask for a move-in inspection, and the landlord has to tell you about that right at the start of the tenancy or within 14 days after you move in. (Minnesota Statutes 504B.182)
• HUD-assisted housing: the owner and tenant inspect the unit together before the lease is signed, and the tenant has 5 days to report anything the inspection missed. (HUD Handbook 4350.3, paragraph 6-29)

These are examples, not a complete list. Your lease and your state’s law decide what applies to you, so check both, and look for a deadline to report problems.