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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.