Here's a live link

There are some flaws in that list. A few:

#2: if you find something in the lease you don't like you can alter it, cross it out, or add to it. (I have nothing outlandish in my leases, but the first time someone starts scribbling over and crossing out a legally binding contract I've typed up and will be party to, I'll say buhbye to them. I take a lot of time and research and am constantly updating my leases. They are for both tenant and landlord's protection. I see someone whip out a pen and start doing handwritten addendums, I know right then and there they are going to be 'difficult' and parting ways at that juncture would be a wiser move. A much better approach: talk to the landlord, tell them why you're uncomfortable with clause xyz, and ask if they will reword it. If it's not outlandish, I'd consider it. Not saying I'd do it though. The day a tenant pays the taxes and repairs and upkeep is the day they get to call the shots.)

9.) Do a walk through on move out and have the landlord sign off on an agreement that you have left the unit in fair condition. (No way am I going to sign anything on a quick walk through. My state's law allows 45 days to refund a deposit. Although I never, ever use that amount of time, I would refuse to sign anything a tenant presented to me on move out. There are issues a tenant can cause that will not show up on a quick final walk through. Plumbing, wiring, etc. I have a house right now that the tenant bailed and I kept the deposit. Even that is not enough. He fancied himself johnny handyman and did things I was not made aware of and are not readily visible on a walk through. I have crawled into the attic and found exposed electrical boxes after he opted to rewire an upstairs bedroom. We found he put an electrical box under the deck, ran it through a hole he drilled in the concrete block through to the basement and at the other end is a plug that goes into an outlet. That one for his holiday lights, I presume. Oh, one more, if you flush the toilet more than twice in an hour the basement floor below gets a nice trail of water to the sump pump because the freaking plumbing is leaking and again, I was not advised.)

#15 That one is kind of playing with fire. Very bad advice. I have never been threatened with an attorney. If I were, as soon as I found out it was bogus (Uncle Joe's industrial relations & worker's compensation firm), there goes that tenant's credibility.

Just my .02.

Moon, you make a good point about not finding tenant damage during a walkthrough on moving day. I never thought that tenants would ever do anything so foolish as to rewire the place. Geesh.

I had a friend who was a landlord of an apartment building and he found out, (while the tenant was still living there) that the kooky tenant had decided to build a gazebo on the flat roof of the building. Not only was the monstrosity so heavy that it caused structural damage to the building, the guy had nailed it into the roof with spikes to "keep it from blowing away". There was unseen water damage going all the way down to the first floor through the walls. Thank god he found out about it in time before the entire building was ruined and irrepairable. It was a complete coincidence that he found out about it, as it could not be seen from the street. He was in a neighboring shop and the owner there asked him what that "thing" was on top of his building. It is mind-boggling what people do.

There's no way I could do thorough inspection of one of my rentals in a short period of time. I've found all sorts of structural, plumbing and electrical modifications & damages in apartments, basements and attics after tenants have moved.

My last tenants that moved out hit two circuits with deck screws, hacked into a ceiling joist to install an electrical box for a ceiling fan and tapped into another tenant's power circuit in the basement.

I never would have known about the power theft and ceiling joist if I didn't have to troubleshoot the tripped breakers.

When we moved in here we were given a form to write down anything we found wrong. I checked everything and added notes because there were big chips in the ceramic tile in the kitchen--don't ask me how--maybe they wore cleats. We had 48 hours to return it to the office. You are all correct in saying a walk-through isn't enough. I found plenty other stuff later. Not major, but I don't want to it to be docked from my deposit. I think tenants should have a week before turning that form in.

Another link that might be useful!

landorslum.com