At Pacific West Home Inspections, you will receive the following professional service and more:

• A Building Consultant Technician with 30 Years Experience.
• Provide a Thorough Property Inspection to protect your investment.
• Document All Visible Issues And Provide A Narrative Report With Photos.
• Provide regular inspections to maintain standards and to identify maintenance issues before they progress.
• Save you thousands of dollars by reducing most lease violations and damages.

While performing “safe and clean inspections” during a tenancy is important, ensuring that “move-in” and “move-out” inspections are performed at the beginning and end of a rental relationship can mean the difference between you as the landlord retaining all or a portion of the security deposit to compensate you for damages or losing it (possibly with triple damages) at the hands of a judge.

Regrettably, many landlords and way too many property managers have not assigned the same degree of importance to “inspections” as I have. And this in my opinion puts them at the mercy of the tenants, and if they are dealing with savvy tenants it will get painful!

Service
We have developed a thorough inspection program to protect your investment, and to hold tenants responsible for lease violations and damages. Regular inspections are important to maintain these standards and to identify maintenance issues before they progress.

Here is an outline of our inspection program and how often we are checking on your property:

• We perform regular drive-by inspections
• Every spring and fall we perform detailed property inspections
• Before and after each tenant, we perform and document a full property inspection
• Additional inspections are performed as needed, and if the tenant fails to pay rent or respond to communications
• Upon reasonable request, we will perform additional inspections

We have found that regular property inspections and routine maintenance can save the building / property owner and manager thousands of dollars. For example: Sometimes even good tenants will let a little drip under the sink go without being repaired, or fail to change a furnace filter as needed. If items like this are not addressed, they can lead to expensive sub-floor and cabinet damage or costly heating and AC repairs.

Our routine inspections are performed every spring and fall for $100.00 depending on the property and services required. If the owner would like a full inspection report including pictures this can be done for $200.00 upon request. This service is optional for the owner, but highly recommended. These inspections can be performed more often by request. Most owners love this service, and the feedback is very positive. If damages are found during any of our inspections, you will be notified.

The Four Key Kinds of Landlord Inspections

Move-in Inspection – This inspection, of course, is conducted during the move-in process. It is conducted with the tenant and it must be documented. As part of the move-in package, I will have a “Move-in” inspection sheet to document conditions. The tenant needs to walk through the property and document issues with the property that could be a deduction from their security deposit when they leave. This inspection is not intended as a wish list for things they want done to the property. Of course, we are assuming the property was ready for the tenant or you wouldn’t have placed them. You want this inspection to be conducted with the tenant so that they can never say that they did not know the condition of the property when they moved in. Once the inspection is completed, the tenant should sign and date the document.

Routine Safe and Clean Inspections – This is exactly what it says, a routine inspection, performed to ensure that the property is safe and clean. This inspection should be conducted every 3 – 6 months; to go any longer and you may lose control of the overall condition of your property. Realize that when conducting this inspection were looking for issues which the tenant has caused, such as pulling a door off its hinges, and items the tenant is responsible for such as a leaking faucet. Again, this inspection is documented, supported by pictures, signed by the tenant with a copy provided to the tenant. If there are any issues, a follow-up inspection should be scheduled so it can verify the tenant has corrected the issues they are responsible for. As for those issues you need to address, get on it!

Drive-by Inspections – This inspection needs no pre-notifications. All were doing is driving by and observing. Again, if there are issues observed on the outside of the property (the biggest one is typically pets that aren’t allowed), you should notify the tenant (in writing) and of course, schedule a “safe and clean” inspection.

Move-out Inspections – The “move-out” inspection is your opportunity to determine the overall condition of the property when the tenant moves out. This inspection should be conducted at the time you receive the keys from the tenant. Realize that if you have the tenant drop the keys off at the office or put them in the mail, they will be able to deny everything you find on the “move-out” inspection because you weren’t there when they last locked-up and they will be able to blame you for all of the issues you claim when retaining their security deposit. The only way to protect yourself is to conduct that inspection with the tenant in the property. Ideally you want the tenant to sign the inspection findings, but many times the tenant will decline, believing that if they don’t sign they won’t be responsible. One last item here, remember that the camera is your best friend; it is very hard for a tenant to deny in front of a judge what is obvious in a picture.

These four inspections can and will help you to keep your properties in good repair, hopefully well-maintained by your tenants, and protect you when you find yourself in front of a judge defending the security deposit decisions.