Landlord Preventative Maintenance Inspection Checklist | PRINTABLE

When it comes to rental inspections, ensure a landlord preventative maintenance inspection checklist is in your rotation.

While things like “scratched floors” are important to note for move-out inspections, they don’t warrant immediate steps to prevent further damage. Nor does it compromise the safety of your rental.

However, if you’re conducting routine preventative maintenance inspections, you can proactively take care of any repair issues before they become major problems.

How do I prepare for a rental inspection?

First, send a notice to your tenants. Typically, there are legal requirements that landlords must follow to ensure tenants are given proper notice before a landlord can enter the premises. Most states require that tenants must be notified at least 24 hours in advance. 

How this is communicated to the tenant (and what times might be mutually agreeable for tenants and landlords) depends on your preferred communication style. Typically, it is best to secure a written confirmation that the tenant has received the notice & agrees to the inspection. 

Second, get your list ready. The items you put in a landlord preventative maintenance inspection checklist will largely depend on your property’s unique features & set-up.

What should I look for when inspecting a rental property?

When inspecting your rental property, consider the age of your building, weather conditions, structural issues, and other property structures. Additionally, factor in if tenants have kids or pets, which may also affect the rental.

All these aspects will be unique to your rental. However, a standard form, such as this rental property inspection checklist, can be beneficial for you to create your own.

There are 3 primary things you’ll want to look out for during a preventative maintenance inspection. When these issues start, they typically don’t stop without swift action to rectify the issue. 

Check for Pests 

When putting together a landlord preventative maintenance inspection checklist, you’ll want to leave room for creepy crawlies.

Even though pests like mice, rats, bed bugs, cockroaches are tiny animals—they can cause HUGE problems.

If you notice signs of a pest infestation, call in reinforcements before the problem escalates. Remember, pests tend to NEST. So, if you see 1 pest, chances are more are hidden out of sight. Waiting to compromise the health and safety of your tenants and property,

Check for Water Damage

Check for water stains in the ceiling, faucets that drip, mold in the shower. These could all be indicators of larger water issues that have the potential to ruin your rental’s livability.

Water damage is one of the most common landlord preventative maintenance inspection checklist items for a reason. It’s a prevalent problem and can be costly.

If you spot any of signs of water damage during your landlord preventative maintenance inspection checklist, call an expert. Importantly, do it before pipes burst, ceilings cave in, or the dreaded black mold appears!

Structural Damage

Does walking through a property while crossing things off your run-of-the-mill inspection suddenly feel a little…crooked?

Are all the pictures tilting towards one side? Is your rental…SINKING INTO THE GROUND?

Structural issues like foundations, exterior walls, doors and windows, roofs, gutters are CRITICAL to not only protecting your investment but keeping the property livable for your tenants.

When putting together your landlord preventative maintenance inspection checklist, make sure you’re checking for any signs that the structural integrity of your rental has been comprised. Damage to foundations, for example, can cost anywhere from $5000-$10,000, so it’s important to check these issues as soon as possible.

Landlord Preventative Maintenance Inspection Checklist | PRINTABLE

You can download our example landlord preventative maintenance inspection checklist here.