What should I check on the day I get the keys?

Handover day is the only moment the property is empty, unmarked and entirely yours to document. An hour spent then is worth far more than the same hour at any later point, because after this the evidence is gone.

Safety

Step by step

1. Photograph and video everything before anything comes in.Every room, every wall, floors, worktops, appliances, window frames, and close-ups of any existing damage. Date-stamped and comprehensive. This is the single most valuable thing you will do today, whether renting or buying.
2. Take every meter reading and photograph the meters.Gas, electricity, water, and both rates if there is an economy meter. Photograph the meter itself with the serial number visible. Submit these to the suppliers the same day.
3. Find the stopcock and test it.Usually under the kitchen sink, in a downstairs cupboard, or near the front door. Turn it to check it actually moves — a seized stopcock discovered during a leak is a much worse problem.
4. Find the consumer unit and the gas shut-off.Note where they are and make sure everyone in the household knows. Check the consumer unit has an RCD and press its test button.
5. Test the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.Press each one. Check the date on the unit — anything over about ten years old needs replacing regardless of the battery. This is a legal requirement for landlords and worth confirming rather than assuming.
6. Run every tap and flush every toilet.Check hot water works, pressure is reasonable, and nothing leaks under any sink. Look inside every cupboard for water damage, which is often the thing viewings do not show.
7. Test the heating even in summer.Turn it on and let every radiator warm. Finding a broken boiler in August is a scheduled repair; finding it in November is an emergency.
8. Check every window and external door.Open, close, lock and unlock each one. Confirm you have keys for all of them, and count the keys you have been given against the doors and windows they should open.
9. Change the locks if you are buying.You have no idea how many keys exist. Changing the barrels on external doors is inexpensive and is the standard first job. Renters should ask the landlord rather than doing it themselves.
10. Check the inventory line by line if renting.Do not sign it on the day without reading it. Note every discrepancy in writing with photographs, and return it within the stated window — usually seven days. This is what your deposit turns on.
11. Locate the drains, gutters and outside taps.Walk the outside. Find the drain covers, look at the gutters, check for an outside tap and where the boundary actually runs.
12. Check what has been left behind.Manuals, warranties, spare keys, paint, the loft. Also check for anything you are now responsible for disposing of, and raise it immediately rather than a month later.
13. Note the broadband situation.Find the master socket and any existing router. Broadband installation can take weeks, so ordering on day one rather than day ten matters.

Tips

• Do the photographs before the removal van arrives, not after. Once boxes are in, you cannot photograph a clear floor.
• Email the meter readings and photographs to yourself as well as to the supplier. It creates a timestamped record independent of anyone else's system.
• Make a note of anything that needs fixing as you go round, then deal with it as one list rather than remembering things over the following month.

Common mistakes

• Signing the inventory unread on the day — It becomes the agreed baseline for the whole tenancy, and disputed damage at the end is settled against it. Read it, annotate it, photograph everything, and return it within the window.
• Leaving meter readings until the first bill — You inherit the previous occupier's usage as an estimate, and unpicking it afterwards is far harder than reading the meter on day one.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask