Landlord Inspection Checklist

With the changing of the seasons, comes ensuring your rental inspection checklist gets your rental ready for cooler or warmer weather.

Even if you have an annual rental property inspection checklist you use to do a walkthrough for your rentals, getting in there every 6 months a good idea. This ensures tenants are maintaining your property properly.

Importantly, it also helps you stay consistently aware of what condition your property is in, in case a tenant wants to do an early move-out inspection.

Landlord Inspection Checklist 

Of course, every landlord inspection checklist will vary depending on who the landlord is, what responsibilities they have for maintaining the property, and what type of rental property they have. 

Additionally, before you can enter an occupied property to perform a rental inspection, ensure you’ve properly communicated beforehand with your tenants in compliance with your state’s notice to enter the property.

However, there are general things a landlord walkthrough checklist can account for:

• Furnace filters
• Smoke batteries
• Fire extinguishers
• Bugs/pests
• Water leaks (sink, toilet, faucet, roof)
• Water damage (walls, ceiling, floor)
• Running toilets
• Window/door seals
• Any appliances
• Overall cleanliness/condition of property

Landlord 6 Month Inspection Checklist

While there is some leeway for how frequently you do rental property inspections, every 6 months is good to aim for. As mentioned above, it gets you in the rental to prep for weather conditions and ensures you have insight into the condition of the property. 

In general, your landlord inspection checklist should still cover everything above but also account for forthcoming seasonal conditions—like subzero winter temperatures. (Looking at you, fellow Midwesterners.)

Again, this checklist will vary depending on your rental property, but here are a few key things to check out in your 6 month rental inspection in preparation for winter or summer.

Rental Inspection Checklist For Winter:

Winter should primarily focus on preventing chilly drafts, holiday fires, and frozen pipes and ensuring you or your tenant is stocked up on snow shovels and sidewalk salt.

• Cover exposed pipes
• Clean/replace furnace filters
• Sidewalk shovel and salt
• Check window/door seals to prevent drafts
• Takedown/store any AC units (if applicable)
• Check smoke alarms (after all, the holiday season can be lit in more ways than one)

Additionally, I’m a proponent of running a pest control check before winter as well. Furry little critters love to move indoors for winter, so doing a pest patrol and prevention run can help keep out additional “winter renters”.  If they’re not paying rent, they shouldn’t be bunking with your tenants!

Rental Inspection Checklist For Summer:

Summer should primarily focus on how to keep your rental property cool and ensure your rental property hasn’t received any damage from large snowfalls, gusty winter chills, or melting ice.

• Undo everything you did for winter prep
• Install AC units in windows/designated areas
• Clean/replace AC filters
• Check seals in windows and doors
• Check roof/siding for any winter damage
• Check sidewalk for cracks from frozen/melting snow
• Check ceiling for water damage from melting snow

When formulating your 6-month or annual landlord inspection checklist, account for ways you can weatherize your rental property to keep it routinely maintained, inspected, and prepped for whatever weather!

Additionally, checking for water-related damage, any furnace or AC filters, smoke alarms, window and door seals, roof damage, or sidewalk issues are good for landlords to add to their inspection checklist for rental properties to ensure common issues—like melting snow causing water leaks—are immediately rectified to prevent further or worsening damage. After all, holes in the ceiling aren’t the same thing as installing a skylight!