Apartment Turnover Maintenance Checklist

Verify the prior tenant has fully vacated — no belongings, no pets, no holdover. Collect every issued key, fob, mailbox key, and amenity card. A holdover tenancy or missing fob is a turnover blocker, not something to discover on Day 4.

Pull the signed move-in inspection form and photos from the tenant file in AppFolio, Buildium, or Yardi. This is the baseline against which damage is measured for security deposit deductions — without it, contested deductions are nearly indefensible in small-claims court.

Water, gas, and electric must be on the owner or company account during turnover so appliances, water heater, HVAC, and detectors can be tested. Skipping this means coming back twice.

Look for loosening planks, scratches, scuffs, and cracked grout. Photograph anything beyond normal wear — heavy gouges, water-damaged subfloor, missing transitions — for the deposit ledger.

Stains, tears, holes, burn marks, pet damage. Carpet beyond useful life (typically 5-7 years per IRS depreciation tables) is normal wear and not chargeable; tenant-caused damage on newer carpet is. Document with dated photos for the itemized statement.

Nail holes, anchor holes, scuffs, chipping paint, water staining. Small nail holes are normal wear; anchor holes and crayon damage are not. For pre-1978 buildings, any disturbed paint must be addressed under EPA RRP rules by a certified renovator.

Cracked panes, torn screens, sliding-door tracks gummed up with debris, broken latches. Operable windows and locking latches are habitability requirements in most states.

Run hot and cold for 30 seconds, check under-sink for active drips and water staining on the cabinet floor, and run the disposal with running water. A small leak now is a $4,000 cabinet-and-flooring repair in six months.

Dispatch the on-call plumber with a current COI naming the property as additional insured. Hold the make-ready as not-ready until the leak is repaired and re-tested — listing a unit with an active leak is a habitability defense waiting to happen.

Burns, knife scoring, missing or loose handles, soft-close mechanisms, drawer slides. Tighten what you can; flag broken slides and missing knobs for the make-ready punch list.

Confirm every burner ignites or heats, the oven reaches setpoint, and the microwave runs without arcing. Replacing a $400 disposal is a deductible repair; full appliance replacement is a capital improvement and depreciated — flag the difference clearly on the owner statement.

Pull the fridge to check the supply line and floor for water staining. A failed icemaker line is a top-five turnover gotcha. Confirm the door gasket seals on a dollar bill all the way around.

Swap the metal mesh or charcoal filter; degrease the hood housing. A clogged hood is a fire-marshal write-up in jurisdictions with rental inspection programs.

Run each fixture and check the unit below (or the ceiling cavity) for staining. Stoppers, diverters, and shower pans are the common failure points. A slow drain noted at turnover saves a 2 a.m. emergency call from the new tenant.

Dispatch the plumber and hold make-ready until repair and re-test. Active bathroom leaks below the unit are the fastest path to a property-wide insurance claim.

Failed grout and caulk lines are how water gets behind tile and rots subfloor. Re-caulk the tub-tile joint and any cracked grout at every turnover; it's a $20 tube and 30 minutes.

Confirm the fan actually moves air — hold a tissue to the grate. A non-functional bathroom fan is a mold complaint in waiting.

Pet damage along baseboards, water staining at exterior walls, gouged crown molding from furniture moves. These are the most-disputed deposit deductions — photograph against the move-in baseline.

Confirm every fan runs on all speeds without wobble (loose downrod is a safety issue), every switch and outlet works, and no wall plates are missing or cracked. Replace burned-out bulbs with matched color-temp.

Pulled-out closet rods and bowed shelves are common. Test every interior privacy lockset — a lockset that doesn't unlock from the outside is a habitability and life-safety issue.

Press-and-hold each detector until it chirps; replace 9-volt batteries and any unit past its 10-year manufacture date (printed on the back). Most states require working smoke and CO detectors at every move-in — failure is a habitability defense and in some jurisdictions a per-day fine.

Rekey or full lock change at every turnover — even when all keys were returned, the prior tenant could have copied them. Log the new key code in the property management system so the office can issue a duplicate without re-pulling the lock.

Loose railings, rotted decking, grill scorch marks, abandoned planters. Railing integrity is a fall-liability issue — if it wiggles, it gets fixed before showing.

Note size on the new filter so the next tech doesn't guess. Confirm the thermostat reaches setpoint on heat and cool — a failed compressor discovered at turnover is far cheaper than one discovered by the new tenant in July.

Final walk by the maintenance supervisor or property manager. A Pass releases the unit for marketing photos and listing. A Pass with notes flags minor punch-list items that don't block listing. A Fail holds the unit until the open work orders are closed and re-inspected.

Hold the listing. Confirm the open work orders are closed in the PM system, then re-walk the unit before releasing for marketing photos. Listing a unit that fails re-inspection is the fastest way to cancel a showing and lose the prospect.