Mid-tenancy inspection checklist. Room by room, with the 24 hours’ written notice.

No law sets how often a landlord can inspect. Section 11(6) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 lets a landlord, or someone they authorise in writing, enter at reasonable times of the day to view the condition and state of repair, on 24 hours’ notice in writing to the occupier, and puts no limit on the number of visits. A routine visit every three to six months is the usual pattern, with an extra one early in a new tenancy or after a reported problem such as damp. The landlord access guide covers when a tenant can refuse and when entry needs no notice.

The limit is the household’s right to live there undisturbed. A landlord who does acts likely to interfere with the peace or comfort of the tenant, knowing, or with reasonable cause to believe, that they are likely to make the tenant leave or stop using their rights, commits an offence under section 1 of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, and since 1 May 2026 a council in England can impose a financial penalty of up to £40,000 for it instead of prosecuting (section 1A). Note the reason for each visit, so the pattern explains itself if anyone asks.

The checklist lists the seventeen checks the app walks, in four groups: safety (the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, the electrics, the escape route, heating and hot water), damp, mould and ventilation, the condition of the home, and the tenancy (smoking, pets, people living there who are not on the tenancy, how the home is kept). Then each room the property has, with lines for its walls and floors, windows and doors, damp, fittings and how it is kept, and a line for the kitchen’s and bathroom’s extraction, where condensation starts.

Two dates are worth noting on the way round. Gas appliances and flues are checked at intervals of not more than 12 months (Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, regulation 36(3)), and the electrical installation at intervals of no more than five years, or by any earlier date the last report sets (SI 2020/312, regulation 3(2)). The alarms have their own rule: the law asks for a check on the day a new tenancy begins and a repair or replacement when a tenant reports one not working (SI 2015/1693, regulation 4), so outside an HMO a test on each visit is good practice rather than a duty. In an HMO the manager must also keep the fire alarms in good working order and the escape routes clear at all times (Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006, regulation 4), so the visit is a good time to test them.

A signed report is evidence later. The Deposit Protection Service lists signed reports of periodic inspections among the evidence an adjudicator weighs: they need not be as detailed as check-in and check-out reports, but they add to them. Give the tenant a copy, ask them to add comments and sign, and keep it with the tenancy. The visit itself cannot be charged to the tenant: the Tenant Fees Act 2019 lists no inspection payment among those it permits.

In LetCompliance you book the visit against the property and each household is emailed written notice of the date and time, with a warning if the visit is under 24 hours away. On the day you walk the same seventeen checks on your phone, add up to 20 photos, put anything that needs fixing on the property’s repairs log, where on the trial and paid plans it can be sent to a contractor from your own list, and set the next visit before you leave, with reminders 30 and 7 days before it is due. Inspections, the day planner and the reports come with every plan, from £7.99 a month for one property.