Landlords naturally try to limit the amount of time a rental unit stays vacant (turnover time). While the unit waits for the next set of renters, the landlord isn't collecting rent. If you have only a few days or less of turnover time, resist the temptation to hand over the keys without performing an inspection: Landlords need to document a rental’s condition and ensure its habitability before new tenants arrive.

In a time crunch, having a dependable to-do list can help streamline the process. Here’s a list of five essential tasks for landlords to make sure their rentals are ready for new tenants.

1. Inspect Rental Property for Damages

Even if you inspected the rental with the tenants who just moved out (many states require you to do so), do another inspection on your own before the new renters move in. This step is most important if you’ve had some work done in the interim—you’ll want to make sure that contractors and workers left a clean and safe space. Set aside time to walk through the rental at your own pace and observe the property’s condition—you’ll probably notice things you didn’t see when you walked through with the prior tenants.

During your inspection, examine fixtures and safety features in the rental. At a minimum, test:

• Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. State landlord disclosure laws might require you to test these in the presence of the new tenants as well.
• Security alarms. Check any security codes and make sure you have a written procedure that you share with the tenants for dealing with false alarms.
• Electrical outlets. Look for signs of burning or charring, and test to see if any connections are too loose or too tight.
• Doors. Open and close to see if they stick or slam when shut.
• Appliances. Run each—through a full cycle if applicable and if you have enough time.
• Locks. Make sure they lock completely and can be easily unlocked.
• Screens. Look for tears, gaps, and rust.
• Windows. Open and shut each window to check for sticking and locking ability. Test any latches as well.
• Lights. Turn them on and off; check for flickering or buzzing noise.
• Water. Run faucets to ensure that hot water is coming out the correct faucet, and that the water is clear and odorless.

Take photos and video as you inspect—they create a great visual record, and, if you don’t have time to complete a written checklist during your inspection (see 2, below), you can use them to fill it out later.

2. Record the Condition of the Rental

Document the condition of the property using a form that you’ve created for yourself. Filling out a form with the following categories can help you track necessary repairs and plan for future expenses.

• Zero/low priority. Record the condition of items and features that are new or like new (such as a brand-new refrigerator or freshly grouted bathroom tile). Also document signs of normal wear and tear that don’t call for repair (such as scuffs on the walls and worn spots on hardwood floor).
• Medium priority. Note issues that you might have to address in the near future but don’t have to repair immediately. For example, sticking doors, missing baseboards, and gouged drywall could be nuisances or eyesores but don’t affect your tenants’ ability to live comfortably in the unit.
• High priority. Landlords are legally required to provide tenants with habitable premises. In other words, landlords must fix anything that makes the unit unhealthy or unsafe for residents. The presence of pests (such as rodents or bed bugs), lack of heating, and security issues (such as a broken front door lock) are all habitability concerns, and must be your highest priority. Call out your handyperson as soon as possible—ideally before the tenants move in. Keep records relating to all high-priority issues that arise before or during a tenancy, including a description of the issue and how you repaired or addressed it.

Use the categories above to note items that affect or could soon affect your profitability. Mark as urgent anything that might significantly increase your expenses in the near future or that could escalate into a large repair bill. More often than not, these urgent and expensive items also create habitability problems, making them high priority. For example, leaks and drips that could create a flood (ultimately causing structural damage or mold) affect habitability and could seriously damage your bottom line, as could a sliding door that tenants have to force open and will eventually break. Urgent issues that don’t affect habitability include things such as having paint colors that violate homeowners’ association rules and will lead to a fine and dirty furnace filters that increase your heating costs.

3. Repair Any Damage and Habitability Issues

Now that you’ve inspected and recorded the condition of the rental, make high-priority repairs and any other fixes that your budget allows. Although a competent handyperson can handle a lot of your to-dos, some repairs—such as electrical work and pest extermination—require licensed and insured contractors.

To be clear, you have to rectify habitability problems before tenants move in. For all other fixes that you can’t complete before move-in, work with the tenants to schedule a mutually convenient time for contractors to be in the rental.

4. Prepare a Move-In Letter for Tenants

Prepare a move-in letter for your new tenants—preferably one that follows a structure you’ve already created. If you have a template, you’ll be able to use it again and again as new tenants move in.

What you put in the move-in letter is up to you. You can use the move-in letter to elaborate on topics in your lease or rental agreement, bring attention to things you consider especially important, and provide tenants with information past residents have found useful. To get you started, here’s a list of subjects landlords often address in their move-in letters.

• Emergency and repair contacts. Give tenants specific instructions on how to deal with emergencies and how to report needed repairs. List the names, contact information, and best way to get in touch with the people to contact.
• How to pay rent. Provide tenants with all the information they need to pay rent, such as a mailing address, the location and time windows for drop-off, or a bank account number. Note that many state laws require this information to be in the lease itself, too.
• Procedures or instructions for items included with the rental. Instructions are especially helpful to tenants when you have unusual or luxury features in the unit. For instance, you might want to give instructions on how to operate a wood-burning stove, turn on in-floor heating, or use a convection oven.
• Rules and regulations. If your rental is part of a homeowners’ association, you should—and the association likely requires you to—provide a copy of the rules and regulations to your tenants. Often, association rules cover topics such as access to the community pool or clubhouse, parking, and quiet times.
• Termination procedures for month-to-month tenants. Give tenants clear instructions on how they should let you know they want to terminate their tenancy. Tenants who have fixed-term leases usually aren’t legally required to give notice that they plan to leave at the end of the lease term—the lease ends on its own. You could, though, ask in your move-in letters that such tenants give you notice before their leases are up. For example, you could ask that month-to-month tenants inform you whether they would like to renew 30 or more days before the lease ends.

You can either require tenants to sign the move-in letter or simply place a copy of it in the rental in an obvious location. Email a copy to each tenant, too. Keep a copy for your records, along with a note on how and when you gave the letter to the tenants.

5. Organize Your Rental Files

Some landlords organize their files by rental property, others by tenant. Either way is fine—organize your files in whatever way makes the most sense for your business.

Depending on how you obtain tenant signatures and create your documents, your files might be paper, electronic, or both. No matter how you store your documents, keep a copy of everything you and your tenants sign, and create backups of all electronic records. Also, keep a record of all contacts you receive about the rental (such as repair requests, complaints, rental inquiries, and rental applications), along with your response to them. Retain your records for at least four years after tenants move out, and consider asking a local attorney if retaining records for a longer period might be necessary for your business.

Store your files in a secure manner—only authorized people should have access. Landlords collect a lot of personally identifiable information (PII), including social security numbers, bank account numbers, addresses, and work history. And many states’ laws require people who collect PII to store and destroy it in a certain manner.

Also, federal law (FTC Disposal Rule, 16 C.F.R. §§ 682 and following) requires special handling of consumer reports such as credit reports. Because mishandling tenants’ information can have such serious effects (like identity theft), consider consulting a local business attorney to discuss how state or federal law requires you to handle the PII you collect.