Move-In Inventory Form (Free Printable PDF)

Almost every deposit dispute comes from one omission: nothing was written down on day one. At move-out both sides believe they’re right, neither has proof, and the argument comes down to memory — which convinces nobody.

Filling in this form takes fifteen minutes. A year later, those fifteen minutes end an argument before it starts.

📄 Download the move-in inventory form (PDF, free) — no sign-up, no email; print two copies and have both signed.

What’s on the form

1 · Parties and property — names, contact details, full address, unit number, date of handover.

2 · Meter readings — electricity, water, gas. All three written and photographed. This is the only antidote to a transfer-bill argument later.

3 · Room-by-room condition — for each room: walls, floors, doors and windows, lighting, sockets. Every line has a good / defective box and a “if defective, what” note.

4 · Contents list — boiler, air conditioning, appliances, cupboards, built-in kitchen units, furniture. Make and model, quantity, and a working / not working mark for each.

5 · Keys — how many, which doors, whether building or parking fobs are included.

6 · Signature block — both parties, the date, and the line “the attached photographs form an integral part of this report.”

Three rules while filling it in

A report without photos is half a report. Text says “there’s a scratch on the wall”; a photo shows how big. Three or four frames per room, and a separate frame for each meter. You don’t need a timestamp overlay — the file date already carries it.

Test it before you write “working.” Fire the boiler, run the air conditioning, try all four burners, open every tap. An appliance that doesn’t work on handover day becomes the tenant’s problem at move-out if nobody checked.

Two copies, two signatures. A single copy leaves the door open to “I never saw that.” Send the tenant a digital copy too — even a PDF sent over a messaging app is a timestamped record.

How to use it at move-out

On move-out day, fill in the same form a second time and put the move-in copy beside it. With two columns side by side there’s nothing left to argue: you discuss the lines that changed, and every unchanged line is already closed.

What can and can’t be deducted is a separate question — what can be deducted from a security deposit works through it line by line. For the full move-out process, the move-out inspection checklist.

Three filled example rows — what a blank template can’t teach

A blank template shows what to write; it can’t show how. The same boiler line, filled three ways, produces three different documents:

Don’t fear the length of the third row: a full inventory has five or six “works, with a defect” rows like it, and the rest passes as a single word: “fine”. The effort goes into the defective items, because that’s where the arguments come from.

Two more examples, from the most-skipped items:

• Walls/paint: not ~~”painted”~~ → “Living room: light grey, good condition; damp mark by the window in the small bedroom (photos 12-13).” A damp mark not written at move-in gets charged to the tenant at move-out — unfairly.
• Bathroom: not ~~”bathroom fine”~~ → “Shower screen intact, 1 cracked tile (photo 17), basin tap drips — landlord to repair.” That last note matters: a repair promised at move-in gains a deadline the moment it enters the record.

Why the photo field asks “how many”

The form asks for a number deliberately. “Photos were taken” carries no proof; “23 photos taken, sent to both parties the same day” does, because whoever later claims “I never got those photos” runs into the record from handover day. Sending the photos to the other side the moment you take them beats any timestamp: the same files on two phones, same date.

The hardest moment: “do we really need this?”

Put the form on the table and you’ll sometimes hear: “We trust each other — no need.” Be ready, because the answer is the form’s whole reason to exist: an inventory isn’t a document of distrust, it’s a document of memory. A year from now both sides will remember the same day differently — not from bad faith, but because memory works that way. The cleanest reply is one sentence: “I run the same routine with every tenant; it protects you too.” Impersonal, tied to a rule — the difference between “I don’t trust you” and “this is how I work” sets the tone of the whole tenancy.

And in reverse: if the tenant asks for the inventory, that’s a good sign. A tenant who wants the record is a tenant planning to live tidily; welcome it and fill the form in together — a jointly completed record is twice as strong.

The move-out column: the form’s second life

The little-known side of this form is that the same sheet gets used again at move-out. The exit column next to each item waits empty. When the tenant leaves, the exit condition goes next to the entry line and the difference shows itself. “Fine” at move-in and “cracked” at move-out is a clear case; “defective” at move-in closes the matter. Keeping two separate documents and trying to line them up later is the most commonly lost step — two columns on one sheet make the comparison automatic. The full move-out day is in the move-out inspection checklist, and the part that turns into money in what can be deducted from a deposit.

🔴 Paper gets lost. A record doesn’t.

The one weakness of this form is that it’s paper. A year from now you have to remember which folder it’s in, and the photos are on your phone, sitting somewhere else entirely.

RentMind puts the two together: the inventory list, move-in photos, deposit amount and lease dates all live on the same tenant record. On move-out day you open one screen and the file is ready. Free for your first two properties.

For what belongs in the lease itself, see what to include in a lease agreement; for the reasoning behind the inventory, the move-in inventory checklist.

Note: this is a practical record-keeping tool, not legal advice. Deposit rules and dispute procedures vary by country and state — get proper advice for an actual dispute.

Common practical situations

• The list gets very long in a furnished let. Let it. In a furnished home the inventory matters even more. Group the items by room (living room, kitchen, bedroom) and write the small stuff in batches: “6 plates, 6 glasses, cutlery set, complete.” This is the record side of the furnished-or-unfurnished decision.
• A flaw noticed after the tenant moved in. If it isn’t in the inventory but was reported shortly after move-in, make a good-faith addendum: “Addendum to the move-in inventory: noticed on this date.” Both parties sign. A report that arrives months later is much harder to accept as a move-in flaw — one more reason to make the form complete on day one.
• Do shared areas go on the form? Spaces that aren’t part of the unit but are used by the tenant (storage room, parking spot) go in; the building’s common areas don’t — those belong in the building management’s book.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a move-in inventory legally required? Usually not, but in a deposit dispute the side with the evidence wins, and this is where that evidence comes from. Adding a line to the lease — “the attached inventory forms part of this agreement” — makes the report an annex to the contract.

Why do meter readings matter so much? Because the second most common move-out argument is an unpaid utility balance. Three readings, written and photographed on day one, settle on their own who is responsible for which period.

Do I need one for an unfurnished rental? Yes. An unfurnished property still has a boiler, air conditioning, a built-in hob, cupboards, meters, doors, windows and floors. The contents list gets shorter, but the room-by-room condition section is exactly as necessary — most disputes are about walls, floors and plumbing anyway.