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Hi my name is Candace Fisher McLane and I'm a housing and environmental design specialist with the University of Missouri Extension any time you're moving into a new apartment is important to perform a thorough inspection of the apartment with your landlord present before you move into the unit a rental inspection checklist should be filled out and signed by both you and your landlord a copy of the rental inspection checklist can be found at our website the rental condition checklist will give you a chance to move room-by-room through your apartment and note the specific conditions of each room before you move into the unit any damages noted before you move in can then be compared to the condition of the unit when you move out of the apartment you may want your landlord to fix some damages that you note on the checklist before you move in for example if there's like a small hole in the wall you may want them to patch that before you move into the apartment other conditions can just be noted on the checklist for example if there's scuffs on the painting or if there's a stain on the carpet that should just be noted on the checklist so that you are not held responsible for those damages so as you walk into the unit you should first take a look at the front door what does the overall condition of the door look like does it look like there's any damages and then go ahead and take a look at the doorknob in the lock do the lock in the knob seem like they're secure make sure they're not coming loose from the door go ahead and open and shut the door make sure the door shuts securely also make sure it's not sticking when you open and close it go ahead and you can turn the lock on the knob make sure that's lock blocking properly you want to make sure that all of your locks are working properly on your front door because this relates directly to the security of your unit on the outside there's a spot for a key you should have the key with you put the key in the lock and make sure that your key is working properly go ahead and look at the condition of the inside of the door as you can see on this one it looks like the knob is a little bit loose so that's something that you should discuss with your landlord note the condition on the checklist maybe take a picture of it it looks like this apartment was just freshly painted so there aren't any holes in the walls from pictures posters artwork or mirrors but if there is if that's something that you should know on the checklist so take a look at the flooring in the living room and throughout the entire unit what kind of materials are proposed in the floor and what kind of condition is it in so is the floor made of hardwood laminate carpet tile vinyl in this room they have carpet and so you want to look at the overall condition of the carpet does it look like in general that it's clean can you see any stains on the carpet are there any spots that are worn that for that are torn or that are coming loose if there are...