Furnished rental inventory checklist: what to list

In a furnished home, the tenant pays for the furniture, appliances and kitchenware along with the rooms. A furnished rental inventory checklist records what is in the home and the condition of each item on the day the lease starts. Without one, a missing lamp or a stained sofa at move-out comes down to your memory against the tenant's.

Below you'll find what to list room by room, how to describe each item, which photos to take and how to note replacement values. Use it alongside a move-in inspection checklist, which covers the walls, floors and fixtures.

Why furnished rentals need an inventory

An unfurnished apartment has a short list of things that can go missing: keys, remotes, maybe a fridge. A furnished one can hold a few hundred items, from the bed frame to the cheese grater. Small things disappear without anyone noticing, and a year later it's hard to say how worn the armchair looked on day one.

A signed inventory gives you a record to point to if you need to claim part of the deposit. It also protects the tenant from paying for a chipped plate that was already chipped, and it settles smaller questions, such as whether the toaster in the cupboard belongs to the home or to the last tenant.

Why it gets skipped

Making an inventory feels slow. You walk every room with a notepad, open every drawer and count forks. The photos land in your camera roll next to everything else, and the list sits in a spreadsheet the tenant never saw or signed.

At the end of the lease you find the gaps: no photo of the armchair's arm, no note about the cracked oven knob, no idea what a similar rug costs today. It helps to use the same method for every tenant, so each inventory starts from the last one.

Before you start

• Finish cleaning and repairs first. List the home as the tenant will receive it.
• Decide what stays. Remove anything you don't want the tenant to use or answer for, or list it separately as "stored, not for use".
• Pick one format for every property: a printed form, a shared spreadsheet or an app. Whatever you choose, the tenant needs a copy they can open later.
• Gather receipts and manuals for furniture and appliances. They give you model numbers and help with replacement values.
• Set aside time. The first inventory of a furnished home takes a while. Later ones go faster because you update the previous list.

Furnished rental inventory checklist by room

Go room by room in the same order every time, and write the quantity and condition of each item.

Living room

• Sofa, armchairs and cushions (count the cushions).
• Coffee table, side tables, shelves and TV stand.
• TV, remote, sound bar and cables.
• Rugs, curtains, blinds and curtain rods.
• Lamps and light bulbs.
• Pictures, mirrors, plants and decorative items.

Kitchen

• Fridge, stove, oven, microwave and dishwasher, plus the washer and dryer if they're in the kitchen.
• Small appliances: kettle, toaster, coffee maker, blender.
• Pots, pans and lids (count them).
• Plates, bowls, glasses, mugs and cutlery, by type and number ("6 dinner plates, 1 chipped").
• Knives, cutting boards, utensils and baking trays.
• Trash can, dish rack, ironing board and iron.

Bedrooms

• Bed frames, mattresses and mattress protectors.
• Nightstands, dressers, desks and chairs.
• Bedding included: pillows, duvets, sheets, blankets.
• Closet contents: hangers, shelves, storage boxes.
• Lamps, curtains and mirrors.

Bathrooms

• Mirror and cabinet, towel bars and shower curtain.
• Towels and bath mats, if included.
• Scale, hair dryer, laundry basket.

Other areas

• Dining table and chairs.
• Balcony or patio furniture, grill and planters.
• Vacuum cleaner, mop, broom and cleaning supplies you leave.
• Fans, heaters, air conditioners and their remotes.
• Router, smoke alarms, fire extinguisher.
• Keys, key cards, garage remotes and mailbox keys.

How to describe each item

Write enough that someone who has never seen the home could picture it. A useful line has five parts:

1. Item and quantity: "Dining chairs, 4".
2. Material or color, and make or model if known: "Wooden, dark brown".
3. Condition: new, good, fair, worn or damaged.
4. Existing marks: "Chair 3 has a scratch on the back left leg".
5. Photo reference: "Photos 12–14".

"Gray three-seat fabric sofa, good condition, small faded patch on the left armrest (photo 5)" tells you much more than "sofa, OK". For appliances, add the serial number if you can find it.

An appliance or a remote can look fine and still not work. Switch on appliances, electronics and remotes where it's safe to do so, note any fault, and write "not tested" next to anything you couldn't check.

Photos that back up the list

• Take one wide photo of each room, then one of each larger item.
• Lay sets out together and photograph them: all the plates on the table, all the cutlery in a row. You'll count faster from a photo than from memory.
• Take close-ups of every mark you wrote down, with a coin or pen for scale.
• Open drawers and cabinets and photograph what's inside.
• Keep the original files, which carry the date and time, and number or name them by room so each line of the list can point to them.

Add replacement values

A replacement value is what you'd pay for a similar item today. If something goes missing or can't be repaired, you and the tenant start from the same figure.

• Use receipts to identify each item and when you bought it, then check what a similar item costs today in a local store or online. Note where the price came from and the date you checked.
• Write the value next to each item, or at least next to the larger ones.
• Review the values every year or two, since prices change.

The replacement value isn't the amount a tenant owes. Expect normal wear from everyday use, and know that many places limit what you can deduct from a deposit for older items. Check the rules where the property is before you rely on these figures.

Sign, share and update it

• Walk the list with the tenant at move-in and correct anything they spot.
• Both of you sign and date it, and each keeps a copy with the photos.
• Give the tenant a few days to report anything you missed, in writing.
• When you replace or add an item during the lease, update the list and tell the tenant.
• At move-out, compare item by item. Our move-out inspection checklist covers that walkthrough.

Some countries and cities have their own rules on inventories in furnished rentals, on attaching them to the lease and on deposits. Check the rules where the property is, or ask a local professional.

How RentalThread will help

RentalThread is building an inventory of the home from photos. You'll photograph each room, and the AI will turn the items it finds into a list with a replacement value for each one; you review and edit it before saving. The inventory will sit next to the move-in and move-out inspections, with their photos, in the property's space, so you and the tenant look at the same record when the lease ends.

See how it fits with the other planned owner features on the owners page.