Move-In/Out Inspection Report | BC RTA s.23 & AB RTA s.19

In Canadian tenancy practice, the condition inspection report is a dated, signed description of every room, fixture and appliance in the unit, completed jointly at two fixed moments: entry and exit. The two columns are the point of the exercise. A tribunal compares the start-of-tenancy entry against the end-of-tenancy entry for the same wall, carpet or stove, and the difference, minus normal wear and tear, is what the tenant can be asked to pay for. British Columbia publishes a recommended model, Form RTB-27, though landlords may use their own form if it contains the prescribed information. Alberta's statute speaks simply of an inspection report, while Quebec practice uses the état des lieux, the description of the premises contemplated by the Civil Code of Québec.

The report is not the lease and does not replace one. Your residential tenancy agreement for Ontario, BC and Alberta sets the rent, the deposit and the repair obligations; the inspection report records the physical baseline those obligations are measured against. It also differs from a furniture inventory. An inventory lists what is in the unit, whereas the inspection report grades condition and cleanliness, pins down pre-existing damage precisely enough to identify it later, and carries the tenant's statement of agreement or disagreement. That signature turns a checklist into evidence.

Residential tenancies fall under provincial jurisdiction through section 92(13) of the Constitution Act, 1867, so there is no federal inspection rule and no single Canadian standard. The provinces have taken two distinct approaches. The first makes the report mandatory and attaches a sanction to non-compliance. British Columbia's Residential Tenancy Act, SBC 2002, c 78 requires a move-in inspection under section 23 and a move-out inspection under section 35, with the content of the report prescribed by section 20 of the Residential Tenancy Regulation, BC Reg 477/2003. Alberta's Residential Tenancies Act, SA 2004, c R-17.1 imposes the same duty in section 19 and, in section 46(6), bars any deduction for damage where the inspection requirements were not met. Alberta even treats such a deduction as an offence.

The second model, followed in Ontario and Quebec, does not compel a report but gives it decisive evidentiary weight. Under article 1890 of the Civil Code of Québec, a tenant who signed no description of the premises is presumed to have received them in good condition, so the absence of a report favours the landlord and leaves the tenant to rebut the presumption. In Ontario, the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, SO 2006, c 17 makes the tenant responsible for undue damage under section 34 and leaves the proof to the Landlord and Tenant Board.

Outside Quebec, the landlord bears the burden of proving that damage occurred during the tenancy and exceeds ordinary wear, on the balance of probabilities. In British Columbia, section 21 of the Regulation makes a report completed in accordance with Part 3 evidence of the state of repair unless a preponderance of evidence says otherwise. The BC Residential Tenancy Branch guidance on move-in condition inspections sets out the mandatory content and scheduling duties in plain language.

The obvious trigger is the start of every new tenancy, ideally in the empty unit after the previous occupant has left and before the new tenant moves furniture in. A furnished living room hides exactly the floor damage that will be argued over two years later. The mirror occasion is the end of the tenancy, once every belonging is out and the tenant has cleaned. Landlords who wait until the next tenant arrives can no longer separate one tenant's damage from the next.

Several mid-tenancy events justify a fresh report. In British Columbia, a landlord who allows a pet after the tenancy has begun must hold a new inspection on or before the day the pet arrives, under section 23(2) of the Residential Tenancy Act, to protect a pet damage deposit. A change of co-tenant is the next case: when one roommate leaves and another signs on, the outgoing occupant's share of the deposit cannot be settled fairly without a dated record at the handover. A building sale where the purchaser takes over the deposits calls for the same walk-through. Any mid-tenancy inspection requires proper written notice of entry, generally 24 hours, under section 29 of the BC Act or section 27 of the Ontario Act.

The report matters most when a tenancy ends badly. A landlord serving a province-specific notice to end a tenancy for damage or non-payment should already have the move-in report on file, because the damage claim will be tested against it.

• The identification block records the legal names of every adult tenant, the landlord or agent conducting the inspection, the full civic address including unit number, and the move-in and move-out dates. A report that cannot be tied to a specific unit and date carries little weight at a hearing.
• The room-by-room grid runs through entry, kitchen, living areas, each bedroom, bathrooms, laundry, storage, balcony and parking. Each line separates condition from cleanliness, because a dirty oven and a broken oven lead to very different claims.
• The fixtures and appliances schedule lists the stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, washer, dryer, window coverings, and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Ontario's Fire Code, O. Reg. 213/07 requires landlords to test smoke alarms at every change of tenancy, and the template records that test.
• The keys, fobs and access devices count lists how many of each were handed over and returned. Lost fob and lock change charges are among the most frequently disputed deductions, and this line settles them.
• The photograph and video log references each image by room and timestamp. The visual record is then attached to the signed report instead of sitting on someone's phone, which is what a tribunal needs to trust it.
• The statements of agreement or disagreement follow the wording required in Alberta and the structure of BC's Form RTB-27. When your units are managed by a third party, the property management agreement covering inspection duties should name who conducts and signs these reports.

British Columbia has the most detailed regime in the country. The landlord must offer at least two opportunities to inspect, between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., the second on the approved Notice of Final Opportunity to Schedule a Condition Inspection, under section 17 of the Residential Tenancy Regulation. A copy of the signed report goes to the tenant within 7 days of a move-in inspection, and within 15 days of the later of the move-out inspection or receipt of the forwarding address, under section 18. A landlord who skips these steps loses the right to claim against the deposit for damage under sections 24(2) and 36(2) of the Act, although a separate claim for damages remains open. The deposit itself must be returned or claimed within 15 days under section 38(1), failing which section 38(6) exposes the landlord to paying double the deposit.

Alberta requires the parties to inspect within one week before or after the tenant takes possession, and within one week before or after the tenant gives it up, under section 19 of the Residential Tenancies Act. The report must carry the signed statements prescribed by the Residential Tenancies Ministerial Regulation, and the landlord keeps it for at least three years. The deposit, capped at one month's rent, must be returned with interest or accompanied by a statement of account within 10 days of the tenant giving up possession.

Ontario does not require an inspection report, and landlords cannot collect a damage deposit: sections 105 and 106 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 allow only a rent deposit and a refundable key deposit. The mandatory standard lease contains no inspection clause, so the report supports a damage application under section 89, which can be brought against a former tenant within one year of the move-out.

Quebec prohibits any deposit beyond the first month's rent under article 1904 of the Civil Code of Québec, so the report serves as proof rather than as a deposit tool. Absent a description, article 1890 presumes the tenant received the dwelling in good condition, which makes the report above all the tenant's protection.

You start by selecting the province where the rental unit is located. The form then adjusts the statements of agreement, the delivery deadlines and the statutory references, so a British Columbia report reads differently from an Alberta one. You then enter the parties, the address, the tenancy dates and the rooms that actually exist.

The inspection itself is best done on site with a printed copy or a tablet. Walk the unit in a fixed order, record condition and cleanliness separately for each item, and describe defects concretely: "two burn marks, 3 cm, on countertop left of sink" carries weight, while "some wear" carries none. Photograph every defect you note and log its file reference. At move-in, both parties sign and the tenant ticks the agreement or disagreement statement, adding any reservations in writing.

At move-out, you reuse the same document and fill in the second column. The template then lists the damage the tenant is responsible for. The finished report downloads in Word for editing and in PDF for signature and delivery.

The most expensive error we see is the report never completed at move-in. Landlords who postpone the walk-through discover at move-out that in British Columbia and Alberta they cannot deduct for damage from the deposit and must instead prove their claim from scratch. Quebec tenants make the mirror mistake: without a signed description, they are presumed to have received a unit in good condition. The second error is the vague entry. "Carpet fair" proves nothing about a wine stain eighteen months later; a tribunal wants location, size and nature. Third, landlords charge for normal wear and tear: faded paint after four years, light traffic marks on hardwood or loose grout are the landlord's cost, and Alberta's section 46(5) says so expressly.

Two procedural slips round out the list. Many reports omit the tenant's signature or the agreement statement, which in Alberta makes the document non-compliant on its face. Late delivery of the signed copy is the other trap, since BC's 7-day and 15-day windows are strict. When a witness who attended the inspection cannot appear at the hearing, a sworn statement drawn from our affidavits and statutory declarations for the common-law provinces preserves that evidence. Photographs that are not dated, labelled and linked to the signed report rarely survive a credibility challenge.