Rental Property Home Inspection

A rental property inspection is performed when property owners have tenants moving in or out of their rental apartments or homes and they would like to document the existing condition of their property from negligence. Reporting on safety issues, fire issues, holes in walls/ceilings, missing appliances, inoperative or unsafe electrical is included.

It is important for both owners of rental property and their renters to fully agree on the condition of a rental property prior to signing a rental agreement. This is true regardless of your role: owner or renter. At the heart of a rental inspection is the security deposit and whether the renter vacates the property leaving it in the condition it was when first rented and, equally important, making sure all the apartment systems are working.

Some towns and cities like Baltimore, have adapted a requirement for inspection of multi-family buildings when they are purchased before new tenants can occupy them. Inspections must also be done when a new tenant occupies the apartment. These apply to 3-family and larger buildings.    

            The law requires a home inspection of each rental unit by a private inspector licensed by the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation. These mandatory inspections will ensure that electrical and plumbing systems are functional with no apparent hazards, that windows are operational, that all combustion appliances are properly vented, that there is a secondary means of escape from all sleeping areas, and that smoke detectors are hard-wired and properly located.

If it is a rental home, the inspection would be very similar, if not identical to any home inspection.  If the property is an apartment, it would still include such things as heating and air conditioning, hot water heaters, plumbing and electrical systems. It would also include the condition of windows and doors, flooring, locks, etc. If it is a top-floor apartment, it might even include the attic and roof