The Move-In Day Checklist
Before boxes come in: photograph everything and submit the inspection form. Then test every system, unload bedroom-first, and confirm utilities are live in your name.
Move-in day has one job that can't be redone later: documenting the apartment's condition before your stuff is in it. Everything else on this list makes the day smoother — that first walkthrough is what stands between you and a deposit dispute you can't win. Boxes wait. Cameras first.
Before a single box comes in
This 20-minute walkthrough is what gets your deposit back a year from now.
- Walk every room and photo/video everything — walls, floors, ceilings, inside cabinets and closets
- Zoom in on existing damage: scuffs, stains, chipped tile, cracked outlet covers
- Open every window; note any that stick, don't lock, or have torn screens
- Photograph appliance condition inside and out (oven, fridge, dishwasher, washer/dryer)
- Fill out the move-in inspection form and submit a copy to your landlord in writing
- Keep your copy somewhere safe — email it to yourself so it's timestamped
The systems check
Test everything now, while reporting problems is the landlord's job, not your fault.
- Run the hot water in every faucet — how long does it take, does it stay hot
- Flush every toilet; watch for slow drains or running tanks
- Turn on every stove burner and the oven
- Test every lock: entry door, deadbolt, windows, mailbox
- Press the test button on every smoke and CO detector
- Find the breaker box and check the switches are labeled
- Locate the water shut-off valve (you want to know before a pipe cares)
- Test a few outlets in each room — a phone charger works fine
- Report anything broken to the landlord in writing the same day
Unload in this order
- Bedroom boxes first — bed built and made before anything else
- Bathroom box next: shower curtain up, towel out, toilet paper on the roll
- Kitchen basics third: one pot, one pan, plates, the coffee situation
- Heavy furniture placed before the small stuff walls it in
- Everything else can live in a labeled stack against one wall tonight
First-night setup
Aim for 'functional by dark,' not 'finished.'
- Bed made with real sheets — future-you will be too tired to hunt for them
- Shower working: curtain, liner, soap, one towel within reach
- Phone chargers plugged in by the bed
- A lamp on — overhead-light-only apartments feel like waiting rooms
- Trash can assembled with a bag in it
- Toilet paper, hand soap, and the plunger where they belong
- Something easy to eat that isn't from a box you can't find
Day-one admin
- Confirm electric, gas, and water are live and in your name
- Take meter readings (photo them) so you're not billed for the last tenant
- Confirm internet install date, or set up the hotspot plan for the gap
- Learn the building rules: parking, elevator reservations, trash and recycling days
- Find out where packages get delivered and whether they're safe there
- Say hi to a neighbor — future package-holder, future 'is the water out for you too?'
Why the walkthrough matters so much
Security deposits are usually one month's rent — often the single biggest check of your whole move. When landlords keep part of it, the dispute almost always comes down to evidence: was that carpet stain there before you? Timestamped photos and a submitted inspection form answer that question in your favor. Twenty minutes on day one, and the argument never happens.