Inspections

Inspections in Habitia are structured checklists that capture the condition of a property or unit at a point in time. They’re the receipts for security-deposit disputes, the baseline for turnover decisions, and the audit trail when an insurance claim happens.

Inspection types

Each inspection has a type that explains its purpose:

Type	When to use it
Move-in	At the start of a lease. Captures the unit’s condition before the tenant moves in. Tenant can sign to acknowledge.
Move-out	At the end. Compares to move-in; differences drive deposit deductions.
Annual	Routine yearly check on the unit.
Quarterly	More frequent on properties that need closer monitoring.
Turnover	Inside a turnover project; coordinates with the make-ready work.
Drive-by	Quick exterior-only check; no entry to the unit.
Maintenance follow-up	After a repair, to confirm it was done right.
Custom	Anything else.

Creating an inspection

1. From the sidebar, click Inspections → New inspection.
2. Pick the property (and unit, if it’s unit-level).
3. Pick the type and inspection date.
4. Add the inspector’s name. If it’s you doing the walk, your name is the default.

The inspection starts in pending status. Once you start filling in items, it moves to in progress. When you’re done, mark it completed — and if a tenant is signing it, submitted after they sign.

Recording items

Each inspection has a list of items — individual things you’re checking. For each item:

• Item name — what you’re rating (“Living room walls”, “Kitchen sink”, “Smoke detector”).
• Room — which room it’s in.
• Condition — one of: Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor, Damaged, Missing.
• Notes — optional. Anything specific worth recording.
• Photos — attach as many as you need. These are the actual evidence.
• Requires action — check this if the item needs follow-up (a repair, a deduction, a discussion). Acts as a flag when reviewing the inspection later.

Items can also be linked to an asset (a specific appliance, fixture, etc., from your asset registry) so the inspection updates the asset’s history.

What the checklist covers depends on the inspection’s scope. An inspection on a unit is seeded with that unit’s spaces and assets only. An inspection on the property (no unit chosen) is seeded with the property’s own spaces and assets, the ones that belong to no unit: the laundry, the exterior, the shared patio. A single-family home is the exception: its one unit is the property, so a property inspection there covers everything. Standing items tied to a type of space follow the same rule; general standing items appear on every inspection.

Anything else you check goes in as a custom item. Add custom item under the checklist takes a name and, optionally, the space it belongs to (“Exterior gate latch”, “Parking stall condition”); it then behaves like any other item, with a condition, notes, photos and a flag. Items you check on every inspection do not have to be typed each time: Settings → Inspections holds your organization’s standing items, and a property’s Overview tab holds items for that property only. Each standing item is either general (added once per inspection) or tied to a type of space (added under every bathroom, every kitchen, and so on). They are added when the checklist is populated or re-seeded, together with the unit’s spaces and assets.

Your progress saves itself. Every change to the checklist — a condition, a note, a photo, a flag — is saved to Habitia a moment after you make it, and again the instant you switch away from the app (for example to take a photo). The status under the checklist reads Saving…, All changes saved, or Not saved yet with a Retry save button if the connection dropped. If the page reloads on your phone before a save went through, the checklist comes back exactly where you left it. Re-seed rebuilds the list from the unit’s current rooms and assets without touching what you already recorded on items that still exist. Submit waits for any pending save before locking the inspection.

From a flagged item to a work order

Flagging an item marks it; turning it into a job is one click, and nothing is created behind your back.

• On the item. A flagged item shows Create work order. The dialog comes pre-filled from the item: a title, a description with the room, the condition and your notes, a priority (high when the condition is poor, damaged or missing), and an optional vendor. The job is created with the property, unit, space and asset already set, the item’s photos attached as before photos, assigned to you, and linked back to the inspection. Once it exists, the item shows the work order’s number and status; tap it to open the job. You can do this after the inspection is submitted too.
• At submit. If flagged items still have no work order, Submit Inspection first shows them with a checkbox and a priority each. Create N and submit creates the chosen jobs and then locks the inspection; Submit without work orders just locks it.
• In the report. The PDF opens with a Follow-up items section listing every flagged item with its condition, notes and work order (or “no work order yet”), so the inspection doubles as the punch list.

Tenant signatures

For move-in and move-out inspections especially, the tenant signs the completed inspection. The tenant’s signature is recorded with a timestamp; the signed inspection becomes the document you reference when there’s a dispute about deposit deductions or pre-existing damage.

You can:

• Have the tenant sign in-person on your device (their signature is captured and saved).
• Send them the inspection through the portal and have them sign there.

Comparing inspections

When you create a move-out inspection, the system tries to link it to the matching move-in inspection (same unit, latest one prior). The detail page shows the items side-by-side so you can see what changed.

Photos and storage

Photos attached to inspection items are stored securely in Habitia and linked to the inspection record. They survive lease changes and tenant turnover — you can pull up the move-in photos from three years ago.

A photo taken from the checklist is shrunk on your phone before it is sent (long side 2,000 pixels, a few hundred kilobytes), which is plenty for evidence and makes each upload a few seconds on cellular. The checklist shows small thumbnails; tap one to open the full photo.

The inspection PDF

Preview PDF and Download PDF (on a completed inspection) produce a report with the details, the overall notes, and the checklist grouped by room and sub-space, each item with its condition, notes, flag, and the photos taken for it. Photos uploaded from the gallery with a room or asset selected are placed under that item; photos uploaded with no item selected appear at the end under Other photos. Photos are scaled down for the PDF so a full walkthrough stays a few megabytes. The file is named after the inspection type, the unit number and the date, for example inspection-Annual-Unit_101-2026-11-06.pdf.

Tips

• Take more photos than you think you need. Storage is cheap; disputes are expensive.
• Be specific in notes. “Scratch on hardwood, ~6 inches, near door” is more useful than “minor scratch.”
• Use Requires action. It’s how you mark findings that need follow-up so they’re easy to spot when you review the inspection later.
• Inspections also live inside turnovers. If you’re doing a unit cleanout between tenants, creating the inspection from the turnover keeps everything threaded together.