A rental turnover checklist for the repairs between tenants

Walk it empty, before anyone picks up a tool

Do the walk-through with the unit empty and every light on. Photograph each room from the doorway, then get close on anything that goes on the list. A dated photo answers questions a paragraph can't, like whether that gouge in the floor was there at move-in.

Then sort every item into one of three piles. Safety is anything that carries weight or lets someone fall: a loose handrail, a rocking stair tread, a deck board that gives. Function is the doors that won't latch, windows that won't open, a toilet that runs and a drawer off its track. Cosmetic is scuffs, nail holes and tired paint. The first pile gets fixed no matter what. The second is what a new tenant calls about in week one. The third is where you decide how much to spend.

Who pays for an item, you or the tenant who just left, is a lease and deposit question for you and whoever manages the property. The repair is the same either way, so the list doesn't have to wait on that answer.

What wears between tenants

A rental wears differently from a house somebody owns. Tenants rarely re-snug a hinge screw or redo a bead of caulk, so small faults pile up through a lease and arrive together at move-out. The same handful of things turn up in the same places.

Loose doors are usually the top hinge, and the fix is a few screws. Nail holes and dings have a method of their own in how to patch a hole in drywall. Any leak you can't trace to its source belongs on a separate list, because a slow drip under a sink can be a drain, a supply line or a fitting, and when a job needs a licensed trade sorts out whose it is.

• Doors: strike plates and hinge screws pulled out of a jamb that has already taken several sets of screws, closet doors off their track, and a knob that went through the wall because nothing stopped the door.
• Walls: holes and anchors left by shelves and TV mounts, dings at outside corners and around switch plates, scuffs along the hall.
• Wet rooms: caulk gone black or open at the tub, a toilet that rocks, a fill valve that runs, a cabinet floor swollen under the sink.
• Floors: gouges and lifted edges in plank flooring, a loose transition strip at a doorway, scratches that catch the light.
• Trim and cabinets: baseboard kicked or chewed, cabinet doors out of adjustment, hinge screws spinning in particle board.

What order to work in

Work that makes dust goes first: drywall patches, sanding, anything that opens a wall. Paint follows, because it needs the patches primed and dry. Flooring goes in after paint so nothing drips on it, and trim gets set or touched up after the floor. Cleaning comes last, once nobody is cutting, sanding or carrying anything through.

Anything that has to be ordered goes on the list first, since a part you're waiting on holds up everything behind it. Work that belongs to another trade goes ahead of the patching, so nobody opens a wall twice.

Before you approve the big three, check them against what drywall repair, interior painting and LVP flooring usually run around here.

What does a property manager need from a handyman?

The list, in writing, one line per item with its photo. The address, and how to get in, whether that's a key, a lockbox code or somebody to meet whoever is doing the work. The date the unit has to be ready, stated as a fact. And who can approve extra work and up to what amount, because a repair that turns out bigger than it looked shouldn't sit waiting on a phone call.

Turnovers are common work for us. Tell us the date when you ask. A deadline changes how a job gets scheduled, and we can only plan around one we know about. Our hours are Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm, closed weekends, so a weekend move-out waits until Monday.

Ask for the certificate of insurance before the first unit, not after a claim. We carry general liability insurance, and a certificate naming whoever is hiring us can be sent before work starts. Ask, too, that a small item turning big gets flagged to you before it gets started. That's how we handle it, and it's a fair thing to ask of anyone.

What you can handle yourself between tenants

A lot of the list is landlord work. Nail holes get filled, sanded and primed. A failed tub bead gets cut out and redone. A toilet that rocks gets its floor bolts snugged. Blinds, door stops, smoke alarm batteries, bulbs and cabinet hinge adjustments are each a screwdriver and a few minutes, and the small-jobs guide has the how-tos.

Label the leftover paint can with the color name, the sheen and the room, and tape a swatch to the lid. A touch-up in the wrong sheen shows as a flat or shiny patch, which is how a ten minute fix turns into a repaint.

Hand off the stair rail, any leak you can't trace to its source, anything behind a cover plate and any ceiling you'd need staging to reach. Put those on the list and keep the rest for yourself.

Build the unit file before the next move-out

The best turnover prep happens while the unit is still rented. Start a one-page file for each unit and add to it every time somebody works on the place.

Put in the paint color, brand and sheen for each room, the flooring brand and color with a note on where a spare box lives, the knob and hinge finish, the filter size and the appliance model numbers. Add the move-in photos, and the last turnover's list and invoice.

Next time the file turns a long phone call into a short one, and it lets whoever you hire match what's already there. Nothing in it costs money.

For the unit coming up now, send us the list with the photos. Home repair is the page to start from, and the contact page works too. If you're selling the place instead of re-renting it, the seller's version of this list has different priorities.

Questions that come with this one