The GTA moving checklist covers the logistics: elevators, movers, utilities, address changes. This page is about the unit itself on the day you take it over.
Do this before you unpack anything
Photograph every room, empty. Floors, walls, windows, inside cupboards, appliances, bathroom fittings. Include the date. This takes fifteen minutes and it is the single most valuable thing you will do all day.
Photograph anything already damaged, close up. A scuffed floorboard, a cracked tile, a stained blind. Then email the photographs to the landlord the same day with a short note. Now it is documented and time-stamped and it is not yours.
Record meter readings for anything you are billed for.
Test everything. Every tap, the toilet, the shower pressure, every burner, the oven, the fridge, the dishwasher, the laundry, the heat, the air conditioning, every light and every outlet you can reach. Report anything that does not work in writing that week.
Check the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Press the test button. A missing or dead alarm is a fire-code matter, not a preference, and your landlord must deal with it.
Ontario has no damage deposit and no standard move-in inspection form, so there is often no agreed record of what condition the unit was in. If a landlord later claims you caused damage, they must apply to the Board and prove it. Dated photographs from your first day end that conversation before it starts.
Keys, fobs and access
- Count what you are given: door keys, mail key, fobs, garage remotes, locker key. Get the list acknowledged in writing.
- A landlord may charge a refundable key deposit, but only up to the reasonable replacement cost. It is not a security deposit by another name.
- In a condominium, register with the concierge or property manager and ask for the building rules. They bind you even though you did not sign them.
The first week
- Confirm your parking spot and locker numbers against the lease.
- Find the breaker panel, the water shutoff, and the fire exits.
- Save the landlord's contact details and the building's emergency number in your phone.
- Set a calendar reminder for eleven months from now, so you are not surprised by a rent increase notice or a lease decision.
Put every request and every agreement in writing, from day one, even when the relationship is friendly. It is not distrust. It is that people forget, landlords sell, property managers change, and a two-line email from eighteen months ago has settled more disputes than any argument.