The Ultimate Checklist for Your First Apartment Walkthrough
Walking through an apartment for the first time, the last thing you want to think about is that moment you eventually move out. That itchy, inconvenient, tiring day some years down the line when you reverse the moving process, the seemingly never-ending cycle of carrying things back and forth. Yet that’s one of the most useful mindsets to have during the first walkthrough of a new apartment.
Before You Even Walk Through the Door
First, check the common areas of the building. This includes hallways, stairwells, and the main entrance. These areas can give you a good indication of how the building is maintained by the management. If common areas are clean and well-kept, the units are more likely to be move-in ready.
Second, ask the property manager or landlord for a copy of the move-in inspection form before you begin looking at the unit. This form will be filled out together, and both of your signatures on it become the legal document of the unit’s condition when you begin your lease. If they don’t have a form, make sure to bring your own. It’s a red flag if they don’t offer a form and shows that you are meticulous about these things.
Lastly, high-quality communities like therichmondapts.com will have their own move-in checklists ready as part of the process, this is a good sign about the kind of management you are about to deal with even before you have officially become a resident.
The Physical Inspection: Go Room by Room
Bring a phone charger and connect it to each outlet in the house. Check if the screen lights up. It may seem like a boring task and it is but it’s better to know about a dead outlet before you’ve got a couch plugged into it.
Similarly, flip each light switch and map out which switches control which lights. If you have leftover switches that don’t seem to control anything, they may operate plug-ins for floor lamps or be set up for future soft lighting. Or, they may control exterior power outlets or heating elements in the overpriced towel racks potential homeowners are forced into wanting after falling in love with the rest of your house.
Turn on all the faucets, shower heads, and the shower. Let the water run for a couple of minutes. Notice the speed at which the water drains. Slow draining is something you will be willing to bet has been happening for a while. Make sure to open the cabinet under each sink and check for soggy softwood, water stain rings on the bottom of the cabinet, or the ever-present musty smell.
Turn the heat on for a while and let the furnace blow out a winter’s worth of accumulated dust. Then, once the house is heated, switch it over to cool, even if it’s April in Wisconsin and cooler temperatures are easily achievable with open windows.
Press the test button on each GFI outlet. These are the ones usually near sources of water in the kitchen and bathrooms. They have tiny little reset buttons. Press them. They should lose power and then you hit reset and they should come back on. A non-functional GFI outlet is a safety issue, not a cosmetic one.
Don’t Skip the Places People Skip
Let’s see if this place can be your home away from home. A few suggestions: Give the oven door a push and make sure it stays closed. Do the same with the dishwasher; look at the rubber seal around the door, is it covered in black mold? Open every closet, and check the ceiling corners and baseboards for evidence of discoloration or soft spots that might indicate water damage.
Check the window locks. Check the deadbolts on every exterior door. A deadbolt that doesn’t throw cleanly or a window that won’t latch is not simply an inconvenience, it’s a security hazard, and you are not overreacting to ask for it to be fixed before you sleep there.
Look for signs of pest activity. Droppings in your cabinet corners, sticky traps that were left behind, little holes in baseboards. If you see anything that makes you suspect someone has had to deal with a pest problem in the past, flag it in writing immediately. You don’t want someone else’s pest problem.
If the building was constructed before 1978, ask the lead-based paint disclosure question. It’s a common, required disclosure for older buildings, and it should put you on guard with a property manager who doesn’t know what you’re talking about.
Document Everything, Then Document it Again
Take a picture of every imperfection you find, chips in tile, scuffs on walls, a cracked window sill, anything. Video each room in one continuous sweep so the footage is harder to dispute. Send all of it to the landlord by email the same day. That chip in the tile that you swear was there when you moved in but the landlord has no recollection of? I promise they’ll remember now. All about that time-stamped record that lives outside your phone.
Don’t rely on verbal agreements. Landlord says they’ll fix the broken towel bar before you move in? Get it in writing or referenced in the lease. Verbal commitments have a way of becoming convenient misunderstandings.
The difference between a renter who loses their deposit and one who gets it back in full is almost always documentation. Go in prepared, be thorough without being combative, and leave with a paper trail that protects you.
