Moving into a rental: the first-week checklist that protects your bond

Day one: document everything before you unpack

An empty property photographs cleanly. A property full of boxes does not.

• Photograph every room wide, then close-ups of every existing mark, scuff, stain, chip and worn patch
• Photograph the oven interior, rangehood filter, inside of the fridge if supplied, and inside window tracks — the four most commonly claimed cleaning items
• Photograph carpet in each room, especially edges, doorways and under where furniture will go
• Photograph the exterior, lawns, garden, fencing, decking and any outbuilding
• Photograph meter readings — power, gas, water
• Confirm your phone is saving timestamps and location
• Back the whole set up to cloud storage the same day

Day one: the ingoing inspection report

Your landlord or property manager should complete an ingoing inspection report at the start of the tenancy, and it forms part of the tenancy agreement.

• Read it against what you can actually see
• Add anything it has missed, in writing
• Sign and return it, keeping a copy
• If you weren’t given one, request it in writing — its absence is itself worth documenting

Disagreements at move-out are almost always resolved by comparing this document to move-out condition.

First week: test everything

• Smoke alarms — press and hold the test button on every one. Working smoke alarms are the landlord’s responsibility
• Hot water — how long it takes and whether it runs out
• Water pressure in every tap and shower
• Toilet flushes and refills properly
• Oven, hob, rangehood and any supplied appliances
• Heating — the fixed heater in the main living room, and whether it actually warms the room
• Extractor fans in kitchen and bathroom (both legally required)
• Every window latch and every lock, including exterior doors and any garage
• All keys, remotes and fobs present and working
• Power outlets in each room

Report anything faulty in writing immediately, so it’s on record as pre-existing.

First week: confirm the paperwork

• Bond lodgement. Your bond must be lodged with Tenancy Services within 23 working days — it is not held by your landlord. Since 29 June 2026 all bond transactions run through Bond Hub. You should receive confirmation
• Check what you were charged. Bond is capped at 4 weeks’ rent; rent in advance at 2 weeks. Letting fees are illegal. If you were charged anything beyond bond and advance rent, see upfront costs
• Healthy Homes compliance statement — must be included in new, renewed or varied agreements
• Chattels list — confirm what’s included and its condition
• Landlord’s address for service, including any electronic address
• Insurance statement. Your landlord must tell you whether the property is insured and the relevant excess

First week: set up the practical things

• Power, gas, internet connected, with move-in meter readings recorded
• Water account where charged separately
• Locate the mains water shut-off valve — find it now, not during a burst pipe at 11pm
• Locate the fuse box or switchboard
• Locate the hot water cylinder and its isolation valve
• Confirm rubbish and recycling collection days
• Save your property manager’s contact details and the after-hours number
• Confirm how to log a maintenance request
• Arrange contents insurance — your landlord’s policy covers the building, not your belongings

Read your tenancy agreement properly

The clauses that generate the most disputes are the mundane ones:

• Who mows the lawns and maintains the garden
• Smoking rules, indoors and out
• Pet consent, and whether a pet bond applies
• Whether the tenancy is periodic or fixed-term, and if fixed, the expiry date — diarise 90 days before it, because a fixed term expiring on or after 1 May 2025 converts automatically to periodic unless notice is given between 90 and 21 days before
• Rent amount, due date, payment method
• Number of permitted occupants

Photograph it again in a month

Take a second set about four weeks in, once you’re settled. It establishes that the day-one condition was accurate and not a one-off. Ten minutes, and it has resolved more disputes than any amount of arguing.

Frequently asked questions