There are two reasons to do a move-in walk through inspection.

First, you want to document the condition of the property at the time of move-in so you can hold the tenant accountable for any damage that’s discovered at the time of move-out. We Highly recommend pictures being taken. We will take them for you but highly recommend you taking your own. We also provide each tenant a move in inspection form for them to identify areas of pre-existing problems / issues.

The second reason we conduct the move-in walk through inspection is so we can increase the owner’s liability protection.

How does this Increase Liability Protection

This protects you from liability. Here’s an example.

Think about the smoke detector you have at your rental property. We used to test smoke detectors the same way you probably do – by pressing the button. If it beeped, we assumed the smoke detector works. If it doesn’t beep, we thought that meant it didn’t work, so we replaced the battery.

We have learned that testing a smoke detector this way only tests the electronic part of the device, not the smoke sensor itself. We recommend you test the battery and then also spray canned smoke to make sure the smoke sensor is working. Another test that can be done is to remove the smoke detector and taking a photo of the back of the device. If it’s 10 years or older, it can be considered to be no longer effective. This is just one extra step that can be taken to limit your liability. We can provide this for you by hiring our maintenance partners or this is something you can easily do yourself.

What if there’s an unfortunate fire at your property? You can almost be assured the tenant will talk to an attorney. When the attorney contacts us, we can provide documentation showing the steps above were taken. Hopefully, This will prevent any attorney from filing a lawsuit. We recommend this be done on an annual basis. It may seem to be overkill until it is needed!

Is there Insurance Savings with doing this?

This is something that needs to be researched with your insurance company. We have been told that some carriers give reduction for proof of prevention.

If you have any questions about the move-in inspection or how we can help you, reach out to us at Carolina Living Real Estate & Property Management at 704-594-3014. We serve Charlotte North Carolina, Lake Norman and the surrounding areas.