A piece of advice
Category: General Advice
3 replies
Original post
When I bought my first unit, an older landlord at a local meetup told me to always do a walkthrough with photos every single time a tenant moves out, even if the place looks fine at a glance. I nodded along and mostly ignored it for the first year because it felt like extra work for units that always seemed to come back in decent shape.
Then a tenant moved out of my second unit and disputed almost the entire security deposit deduction, claiming the damage was already there when they moved in. No photos from move-in, nothing from move-out either, just my word against theirs. Ended up refunding way more than I should have just to avoid the headache of proving it.
Now I photograph every inch of every unit, move-in and move-out, timestamped and saved in a folder I can actually find later. Feels like overkill until the one time it isn't. I wish I'd just listened the first time instead of learning it the expensive way.
Reply by Josh Winders
Great Tip!Reply by Marc St.James
Ha we've all got this exact story mine just cost me about 1,800 bucks to learn.
Same deal. Tenant swore up and down the carpet stains and a busted closet door were there when they moved in. And you know what maybe they were, that's the whole problem. I had nothing to prove otherwise so I ate most of it. Nothing makes you a believer in documentation faster than writing that check.
One thing I'd add to what you're already doing. Get the tenant to sign off on the move in condition too not just your own photos. I do a move in checklist now, walk it with them, both of us sign and I email them a copy the same day so it's timestamped and they can't say they never saw it. Kills the "it was already like that" argument before it even starts because their own signature is sitting right there.
You're doing it right though. Feels like overkill right up until the one move out where it saves you thousands. Cheap insurance.