How to do a move-out inspection without losing your bond

The bond exists to cover real damage caused during your stay — not normal wear and tear, and not damage that already existed. The problem is that without a record of the house's condition at move-in, it comes down to your word against whoever manages the property (or against the other roommates, in houses with per-room contracts).

This gets even trickier in a share house, where several people pass through the same house over time — without a documented move-in inspection, it's nearly impossible to prove that scratch on the floor was already there before you moved in.

• Photos of every room, including common areas — not just your own room.
• Any existing damage, stain or wear, with a date.
• The condition of appliances and furniture that came with the room/house.
• Meter readings, if applicable, so you're not charged for usage from before you arrived.

A move-out inspection should, in practice, mirror the move-in one — same photos, same angles, same rooms. That makes the comparison direct: whatever changed between move-in and move-out is what can actually be deducted from the bond.

Without that comparison, the whole discussion turns into memory versus opinion — and memory from months or years ago never holds up against a dated photo.

If damage genuinely happened during your stay, the simplest path is to sort it out directly — repair it or deduct it from the bond by agreement, without a dispute. Where a documented inspection really pays off is when the damage wasn't yours, and without proof, you'd be charged for something you didn't do.