Most arbitrage operators spend weeks underwriting a deal, negotiating a lease, and pitching a landlord — then walk into the unit on move-in day with nothing but a phone camera and good intentions. That gap is where deposits get lost. A guest chips the counter in month four, the landlord blames it on you, and there's no record of what the unit actually looked like before your first check-in. Without documentation, that argument defaults to the landlord's word against yours.
Move-in condition documentation isn't paperwork for its own sake. It's the evidence that separates "this was already like that" from "you damaged my property," and in an arbitrage setup where dozens of guests will cycle through a unit you don't own, you need that evidence more than a typical renter does.
Why This Matters More for Arbitrage Than a Normal Rental
A standard tenant causes wear from one household over a year or two. An arbitrage unit sees a new occupant every few days, each with different luggage, different kids, different definitions of "careful." Normal wear accumulates faster, and it's spread across people who never had a lease with the landlord and can't be held accountable individually. When something breaks or degrades, the landlord's only contractual recourse is you — the person who signed the master lease.
That means your move-in documentation isn't just about protecting a deposit at move-out. It's about giving yourself a defensible baseline you can point to at any point during the lease if a landlord walks through and starts pointing at scuffs, claiming they weren't there before.
What to Document Before You Ever List the Unit
Full video walkthrough, not just photos
Photos get disputed on framing and timing. A continuous video walkthrough — narrated, with a visible date (screen recording a phone's lock screen or timestamp app at the start works) — is harder to argue with. Walk every room slowly, open every closet, cabinet, and appliance, and narrate what you're seeing: "small scratch on the left side of the stove," "water stain on the ceiling in the hallway bathroom, pre-existing." Don't rush it. This video is your insurance policy.
Close-up photos of anything imperfect
After the walkthrough, go back and take still photos of every flaw: nicks in trim, worn flooring, stained grout, dated appliances, anything that could later be mistaken for damage you or a guest caused. Photograph serial numbers or model plates on major appliances too — useful if you ever need to prove an appliance was already old when a landlord tries to charge you for "replacement" of something that was failing on its own.
Include the exteriors covered by your lease: parking spot, patio, shared entryways, mailbox. Arbitrage disputes aren't limited to interiors.
Function checks, not just appearance
Turn on every faucet and note water pressure and drainage speed. Test every light switch and outlet. Run the HVAC and note if it heats and cools properly. Open and close every window and door, checking for sticking, drafts, or broken locks. If the unit has a washer/dryer, run a cycle. Document all of it, even briefly — a working smoke detector today means you're not on the hook when it later needs a battery, and a slow shower drain that already existed doesn't become "guest damage" six months in.
Existing furniture or fixtures left behind
If the landlord is leaving anything — blinds, a fridge, light fixtures — get it in writing in the lease or an attached inventory, and photograph its condition. Otherwise you have no record of what was supposed to be there versus what you added, which becomes a problem if the landlord later claims something is "missing."
How to Get the Landlord's Sign-Off
Documentation you keep to yourself is useful, but documentation the landlord has acknowledged is much stronger. Two ways to do this, in order of strength:
- Joint walkthrough. Ask the landlord or property manager to walk the unit with you on move-in day and sign a condition report together. Not every landlord will make time for this, especially on a portfolio property, but it's worth asking — a signature closes off most future disputes before they start.
- Written condition report sent within 24-48 hours. If a joint walkthrough isn't possible, send your documentation — video link, photos, and a written inventory of existing issues — to the landlord by email immediately after move-in, and ask them to confirm receipt or flag anything they disagree with. Silence in response to a dated, written record is still useful if a dispute comes up later; it shows you gave them the chance to object and they didn't.
Keep this correspondence in the same folder as your lease. If you ever need it, you'll need it fast, not three platforms and two email accounts deep.
Build This Into Your Ongoing Operation, Not Just Day One
Move-in documentation only solves half the problem. The other half is having a system for tracking condition over the life of the lease so you're never caught flat-footed at renewal or move-out.
- Quarterly condition photos. Even without a landlord walkthrough, re-photograph the unit every few months using the same angles as your move-in shoot. This shows gradual, ordinary wear rather than a sudden gap between "pristine" and "damaged."
- Cleaner/turnover team reports. If you use a cleaning or turnover crew between guests, have them flag and photograph any new damage immediately, with the reservation dates attached. This is how you catch a guest-caused issue while it's still fresh — and while you can still make a claim through the booking platform's guest damage protection or your STR insurance, rather than eating the cost yourself at lease end.
- A running maintenance log. Track every repair request and completion date. If a landlord tries to blame you for something that was actually a maintenance issue they were slow to fix, the log settles it.
The Bottom Line
A thorough move-in record costs you an hour on day one. A missing one can cost you your deposit, a damaged relationship with a landlord you need for lease renewal, and — in a worst case — grounds for the landlord to claim you breached the lease's care-of-premises clause. Treat the walkthrough with the same seriousness you'd treat the underwriting that got you to sign the lease in the first place; it's a small step that protects a much bigger investment.
Getting the unit itself right in the first place matters just as much — AirLoom's underwriting pulls live rents, real demand comps, and compliance signals into one verdict so you know a listing is worth this level of effort before you ever schedule a walkthrough.