Damage you find an hour after checkout is hard to charge for. Damage you catch on the walk, with photos, is not. This free rental property inspection checklist prints on one page and covers the whole pass: an entry and exit walk, kitchen appliance checks, bathroom and bedroom items, the safety checks with their test dates, and a damage table with a photo column. Print one per turnover, or keep the stack on a clipboard by the door. The full Short-Term Rental Host Ops Binder, 22 pages with turnover cleaning checklists, maintenance and damage logs, is linked at the bottom. Deep-cleaning between stays is a different job; the move-out cleaning checklist covers that pass.
How to use this page: print one sheet per turnover, date it at the top, and walk the same route every time. Tick as you go, not from memory at the car. Photograph anything that looks new, then file the sheet by date. A checklist without dates proves nothing later.
The short term rental inspection template, one page
No water stains or drips at ceilings and under sinks ☐
Lights and switches all working ☐
Trash and recycling out, bins back in place ☐
Walkway, porch and entry clear ☐
Kitchen appliance check
Fridge cold, seals clean, no guest food left ☐
Freezer closed fully, no frost build-up ☐
Oven, stovetop and microwave heat ☐
Dishwasher runs and drains ☐
Kettle or coffee maker works ☐
Under-sink cabinet dry ☐
Bathroom
Toilet flushes, refills, base dry ☐
Sink and shower drain fast ☐
Taps and showerhead steady, no drips ☐
Exhaust fan pulls air ☐
Grout, caulk and ceiling: no new cracks or stains ☐
Bedroom
Mattress: no new stains, sag, or springs ☐
Frame solid, slats and screws tight ☐
Fresh linens on, spare set ready ☐
Lamps and outlets work ☐
Curtains close, window locks hold ☐
Safety items, write the dates in
Smoke alarm tested — last test date: ________________ ☐
CO alarm tested — last test date: ________________ ☐
Fire extinguisher gauge in the green, tag date: ____________ ☐
First-aid kit stocked, nothing expired ☐
Exits clear, night lighting and emergency info sheet current ☐
Damage documentation
Wide photo first, close-up second, with something in frame for scale. Note the condition in plain words and log the cost later; normal wear is not damage, and writing down which one it is on the day settles most deposit arguments.
#
Item
Condition found
Photo taken
01
Living room blinds (EXAMPLE)
bottom slat bent, still usable
☐
02
☐
03
☐
04
☐
05
☐
06
☐
Season deep-check
Once a season, walk with this box instead of the regular list: slower, and looking at what a quick turnover never touches. What goes on the lines is yours; common picks are HVAC filters, detector batteries, gutters, grout, and under-furniture checks.
In my view, when you inspect matters as much as what you check. These four are opinions from watching turnovers go well and go badly.
1. Walk it the same day, right after checkout
A stain reported the same afternoon with photos gets settled. The same stain noticed three days later, after a cleaner and two new guests, is a story you cannot prove. Same-day also means the departing guest can still be reached.
2. Use daylight
Water stains, scuffs and grout problems hide under artificial light. Morning walk, curtains open. If the checkout lands in the evening, do the full pass the next morning and a two-minute sanity check the night of.
3. Inspect before the cleaners, spot-check after
If you only ever see the place after cleaning, new damage and a missed clean look identical. Walk the empty property first, then check the cleaner's work against the cleaning checklist, not against your memory of the damage.
4. Keep the route fixed
Same entry door, same room order, every single time. When the route never changes, a skipped room announces itself. Improvised routes skip rooms silently, and the skipped room is where the slow leak lives.
What the full Host Ops Binder adds
30-item amenities checklist - checked against the actual place once, so you never promise what you cannot deliver.
Turn-over cleaning checklists, 2 pages - kitchen and bath, then bedrooms, living and a restock strip with quantities written in.
Guest welcome sheet template - wifi, access, house rules, checkout list and contacts, in guest language.
4 undated reservation calendars plus a 20-row check-in/out log with a keys-back column.
30-row maintenance & repair log - repeat lines on the same item mean it is time to replace it.
Damage & deposit log - what broke, what it cost, where the deposit went.
22 pages, A4 and US Letter, undated so the binder works any season and any year. Print at 100%, one binder per property. Record-keeping only: it is not legal advice, and deposit rules differ by location.