Organisation12 min read
Property inspection management as a team: assign, duplicate, keep the history
Property inspection management for teams: one shared visit list, assignment, move-out duplicated from the move-in, history per unit. Lose nothing.
The homePad team
Property inspection management in a team rests on three things: a single list of visits in which each one carries a status and a person in charge, an assignment rule that everyone knows, and a history filed by unit that keeps every past visit. On this basis, the move-out is prepared from the move-in, a new member of staff takes over a portfolio without digging through their predecessor's mailbox, and, when a tenant leaves after six years, their move-in inspection report is found in seconds. The method works with a spreadsheet as well as with visit management software.
Why do inspection reports get lost when several people work on them?
Inspection reports get lost when the information lives in personal spaces: a property manager's diary, an agent's phone, a mailbox, a network folder that only its author knows how to read. As soon as several members of staff share the portfolio, the same incidents keep coming back:
- Nobody knows who is doing Thursday's visit. Two people turn up, or nobody does.
- The move-in report cannot be found at move-out time. Signed in 2020 by a colleague who has since left, it is sitting in her mailbox.
- Every report starts from scratch. Rooms, meters, keys and contact details are re-entered at every visit.
- The newcomer has no memory of the portfolio. They discover units, occupants and disputes one phone call at a time.
- Seasonal peaks overwhelm the team. Summer departures, then the start of the academic year in student residences, pack move-outs and move-ins into a few weeks.
This disorder has a price: the move-out is judged by comparison with the move-in, and the tenant's deposit is returned under rules specific to each country.
The move-out inspection report is compared with the move-in one (law no. 89-462 of 6 July 1989, art. 3-2), and the deposit must be returned within one month if the two match, within two months otherwise, failing which a penalty of 10% of the monthly rent excluding charges applies for each month or part month of delay (art. 22). Wear and tear is not chargeable to the tenant; a wear-and-tear grid applies if the lease provides for one (decree no. 2016-382 of 30 March 2016, art. 4).
When the home is returned, the landlord must check its condition and immediately notify the tenant of the defects for which the tenant is liable (art. 267a of the Swiss Code of Obligations, CO). The security deposit, at most three months' rent, is released only with the agreement of both parties or a decision; if the landlord has not started any proceedings within the year following the end of the lease, the tenant can recover it alone (art. 257e CO).
Without a detailed move-in inspection report, the tenant is presumed, unless proven otherwise, to have received the property in the condition it is in at the end of the lease, in all three regions (Wallonia: decree of 15 March 2018, art. 28; Flanders: Vlaams Woninghuurdecreet, art. 39; Brussels: Brussels Housing Code, art. 220, which refers to art. 1731 of the Civil Code). The deposit is released on written agreement or by judgment (Wallonia, art. 62; Flanders, art. 37; Brussels, art. 249); in Brussels, unless the matter is before a court, it is released no later than two months after the keys are handed back (art. 249).
Where the move-out inspection report matches the move-in one, subject to normal wear and tear, and the landlord makes no claim for unpaid rent or rental damage, half of the deposit is returned within one month of the handover of the keys; the balance, after deduction of duly justified sums, no later than one month after receipt of the service charge statements or the final approval of the co-ownership's annual accounts; after formal notice, any delay increases the sum due by 10% of the monthly rent for each month or part month (amended law of 21 September 2006, art. 5, para. 2bis).
A lost move-in report means a deduction that cannot be justified and, where the law sets a time limit, a time limit that runs all the same.
How do you keep a single list of property inspections?
A single list of visits is a shared register in which each inspection report appears only once, with the same information for everyone. Each line states at least:
- the unit reference and its address;
- the type of visit: move-in, move-out, move-in and move-out on the same day, or pre-inspection;
- the scheduled date and the landlord;
- the member of staff in charge;
- the status: To do, In progress, Done.
The pre-inspection is a visit made before the move-out, while the tenant still occupies the home, to point out what they can put right before handing back the keys. It deserves its own line.
The list is only useful if it is read. Set a short routine, for example on Monday mornings: filter the week's "To do" visits by member of staff, spot those with no one in charge and those that have stayed "In progress" for several days, which often hide a report that has not been signed or sent.
How do you assign property inspections across a team?
Assigning a visit means naming, before the date, the person who will carry it out. Three criteria combine:
- Workload: the visits already scheduled for each person, a move-out with a comparison counting for more than a move-in in a new home.
- Area: grouping the visits in the same neighbourhood into a half-day cuts travel.
- Portfolio: the property manager who knows the landlord and the history of the unit keeps the sensitive visits, for example a move-out after a dispute.
Clear roles stop everyone from doing everything: the assistant prepares the visit at the office (contacts, appointments, documents), the field agent carries it out, the manager assigns and checks, the administrator manages accounts and templates. A firm with several agencies gives each entity its own list.
Before a peak, assignment is prepared weeks in advance: tenants' notices logged as soon as they arrive, pre-inspections scheduled in June and, in student residences, slots blocked out for the end of the academic year and the start of the new one, when a move-out and a move-in follow each other a few days apart.
Why prepare the move-out by duplicating the move-in?
Duplicating the move-in to prepare the move-out ensures that both documents follow the same structure, room by room, which is the condition for a serious comparison.
The duplicate carries over the contacts, keys, meters, documents, comments and photos of the move-in. The agent no longer rebuilds the list of rooms: they check each line and note what has changed.
The trap is well known: approving the copied condition without looking. The copy prepares the work; the inspection itself is done on site. Set three rules:
- every element is reviewed in the home, even if it looks the same;
- meter readings and the key count are always done again;
- every difference from the move-in has a photo and its precise location.
What remains is to assess wear and tear, that is, the wear due to time and normal use, which remains the landlord's responsibility. A wear-and-tear grid, where there is one, helps to put a figure on it. Our guide to digital inspection reports details the room-by-room description.
What should a unit's history contain?
A unit's history is the dated sequence of all the visits made to that home, with their signed reports, their photos and the record of when they were sent. It can be viewed from three angles:
- by unit: the 2020 move-in, the pre-inspection, the move-out, then the next tenant's move-in;
- by building: the technical visits of the common areas and all the units;
- by contact: a tenant who moves to another home in the same portfolio, a landlord who owns several units.
It is this history that settles the case of the tenant who left after six years: the move-in date sets the period of use for assessing wear and tear, and the condition described at move-in shows what counts as damage. The works noted at move-out are then followed up like any repair, using our repair management method.
How do you know who received which report?
A report is only useful if each party has received it, with proof: each must have their own copy, handed over in person or electronically. Organise three things: sending the signed reports as soon as the visit is closed, resending to a specific contact (a landlord who has mislaid theirs), and a log of what was sent that the whole team can consult. When a tenant claims to have received nothing, the answer is found in seconds.
These reports contain personal data: apply our data protection checklist and close a member of staff's account on the day they leave. Their visits stay in the units' history.
Property inspection management: what changes, before and after
| Step | Before (individual files) | After (shared list and history) |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | Personal diary, exchanges by messaging app | Single list filtered by member of staff, status and period |
| Assign | By phone, the day before | Person in charge named according to workload, area and portfolio |
| Prepare a move-out | Find the move-in, copy out rooms, keys and meters | Duplicate the move-in, check each line on site |
| Send | PDF attached by hand, with no shared record | Signed reports sent on closing, resends recorded |
| Find an old visit | Its author's mailbox or phone | History by unit, building and contact |
| Welcome a new recruit | Word of mouth | Assigned visits, history and shared templates |
| Get through a seasonal peak | Overtime and things forgotten | Pre-inspections scheduled, workload visible in advance |
What homePad does for you
homePad Reports, the collaborative web app included from the Pro plan, brings the whole team's visits together in one list, while the agents carry out the visits with homePad App, even offline. It is designed in particular for property managers, student residences and real estate agents.
- A list of visits that can be filtered by property manager, landlord, visit type (move-in, move-out, move-in and move-out, pre-inspection), report type, unit reference, status and period.
- Assigning a visit to a member of the team, with roles (administrator, manager, assistant, field agent) and several entities.
- Duplicating a visit: contacts, keys, meters, documents, comments and photos carried over, the move-out starts from the move-in, and an AI comparison report sets the move-in and the move-out side by side.
- Visit history on every unit, building and contact.
- Signed reports emailed to the parties when the visit is closed, resent to the contacts of your choice with a history of the emails sent, PDF available for download.
Frequently asked questions
How do you manage property inspections with several property managers?
Keep a single, shared list of visits, in which each one has a type, a date, a named person in charge and a status. Assign according to workload, area and knowledge of the unit. Review the list every week to spot visits with no one in charge or that are stuck.
Can you create the move-out inspection from the move-in report?
Yes, and it is the safest way to keep a comparable structure between move-in and move-out. The move-out carries over the rooms, elements, keys and meters of the move-in. Each line must nevertheless be checked on site, and the meters and keys read and counted again.
How long should you keep an inspection report?
At the very least for the whole term of the lease, then until the deposit has been returned and the claims that may arise from the move-out have expired. Set this period in writing in your retention policy, without keeping personal data any longer. Limitation periods differ from country to country:
At least three years after the end of the lease, the limitation period for claims arising from the lease (law no. 89-462 of 6 July 1989, art. 7-1).
Up to ten years after the end of the lease, the general limitation period (art. 127 CO); rent claims are time-barred after five years (art. 128 CO).
Up to ten years for personal actions (Civil Code, art. 2262bis); five years for rent and charges (art. 2277). In Flanders, the landlord must act within the year following the end of the lease to obtain the release of the deposit (Vlaams Woninghuurdecreet, art. 37).
At least five years for rent (Civil Code, art. 2277); the ordinary limitation period is thirty years (art. 2262).
How do you find a move-in inspection report from several years ago?
Start with the unit's history rather than the files of the member of staff who carried it out. A history by unit, building and contact keeps signed reports after their author has left. Failing that, search the agency's archive, then ask the landlord, who received their own copy.
What is property inspection management software?
It is a tool that centralises a team's inspection reports: scheduling, assignment, status, signed reports and history. It complements the field app used to carry out the visit. Its main benefit is to make the information independent of the person who carried out the visit.
How do you prepare for summer move-outs or the new academic year in student housing?
Log tenants' notices as soon as they arrive, schedule pre-inspections several weeks before the departures and share out the visits by area. Prepare all the move-outs at the office by duplicating the move-ins. Reserve slots for the homes where a move-out and a move-in follow each other closely.
- property inspection management
- team scheduling
- inspection history
- move-out inspection