The entry and exit inventory: the document that protects you

There is a sentence justices of the peace hear every month: "The property was spotless when he moved in, I promise you." It is worth nothing. What is worth something is a dated, precise document signed by both parties. Without it, the case is lost before it is argued.

1. Why this document decides everything

The principle is simple: the rental deposit is not your money. It is a blocked sum belonging to the tenant, and it comes to you only if you prove damage for which they are liable. That proof is not a photo taken on the way out: it is the comparison between the exit condition and the entry condition.

Without a detailed entry inventory, how do you show that the stain on the parquet was not there? That the cupboard door was not already cracked? That the wall was not already drilled? Under Belgian law, the tenant is in principle presumed to have received the property in the state in which they return it. Prove nothing, get nothing.

That is why the inventory is mandatory in all three Regions — Brussels, Wallonia and Flanders each impose, in their own text, a detailed and joint inventory. It is not optional, and it is not the caution of a suspicious landlord: it is the law.

2. "Joint": what that really means

Joint means that both parties draw it up together, or that they appoint an expert by mutual agreement to do so. Both read it, both may challenge it, both sign it.

An inventory written by you alone and emailed to the tenant "for information" is not an inventory. It is your opinion, and it binds only you.

Two options:

• Amicably, between you and the tenant. Free, but demanding: you must be methodical, take the time, and accept writing down the defects that embarrass you too.
• By an expert appointed by mutual agreement. They produce a neutral, technical document. The fee is then split in half between the parties. This is the reasonable choice for a valuable property, a new or fully renovated one (where the slightest deviation will show), or when relations are strained.

When. In practice the inventory is drawn up before the tenant moves in — with the property empty — or in the early period of occupation. The exact deadline is set by your Region's text: check it, it varies and depends on the length of the lease.

Afterwards. The inventory is annexed to the lease and registered with it (registration is free, the landlord's duty, within two months of signature).

3. What it must contain

An inventory that says "good general condition" is a useless inventory. What protects you is detail.

Room by room

For each room, describe every surface and every fitting: floors, walls, ceilings, skirting boards, doors and handles, windows, frames, shutters, radiators, switches and sockets, light fittings, cupboards, worktops, sanitary ware, seals, taps.

And above all: be precise in your wording. "4 cm scratch on the right-hand door jamb, 1 m from the floor" is worth infinitely more than "damaged door". A year later, nobody will remember what "damaged" meant.

Dated photos

One photo per observation, taken close up, plus one overview photo per room. They must be dated and attached to the document — not scattered across a phone. This is where an amicable inventory catches up with an expert's report fastest.

Meter readings

Electricity (day and night rates where applicable), gas, water — and the heating oil left in the tank, if there is one. Note the meter numbers, not just the readings: that is what saves you months of argument with a supplier.

Keys and equipment

Number of keys handed over (front door, letterbox, cellar, bike store, fob). Presence and condition of the smoke detectors. Date of the last boiler service. Manuals and certificates handed over.

4. The exit inventory: the comparison

At the end of the lease you repeat the exercise, with the entry document in front of you, room by room, line by line. A discrepancy: note it, photograph it, cost it where possible.

Then comes the only real question: fair wear and tear, or tenant damage?

• Fair wear and tear results from normal use of the property and the mere passage of time. It is your cost, and you may deduct nothing for it. Dulled paint after six years, a yellowed bath seal, a carpet worn in the walkway, a patinated worktop: that is the life of an inhabited home.
• Tenant damage results from fault, negligence or failure to maintain. A hole in the partition, cracked tiles, mould caused by a lack of ventilation, a burn on the worktop, a forced door: for that the tenant is liable.

The line is not always sharp, and what shifts it is time. Paint has a lifespan; after eight years of occupation its residual value is low, and even if the tenant did damage it, you do not claim brand-new paint: you apply a depreciation for age and wear. Claiming 100 % of the cost of an item at the end of its life is the surest way to lose before the justice of the peace — and to lose along with it the part of your file that was solid.

5. Releasing the deposit

The rental deposit is constituted off-platform, in principle on a blocked account in the tenant's name (maximum amounts and arrangements differ between the three Regions: check the rule for yours). It is released only with the written agreement of both parties, or by court decision.

In other words: without agreement, you take nothing unilaterally. Which makes the exit conversation decisive — and a well-documented file unanswerable.

If disagreement persists, the competent forum is the justice of the peace for the place where the property is located. Many disputes settle beforehand through conciliation; few settle in favour of the party with no document.

6. The inventory in Domilinko

We built exactly the tool you would want to have in front of a judge:

• Photos per room, taken in the app, time-stamped and attached to the observation, not to a gallery lost in a phone.
• Meter readings for electricity, gas and water, entered at entry and at exit, with the meter numbers.
• Signature by both parties, at entry as at exit: the document is joint by construction. There is no button to validate it on your own.
• The exit document is read against the entry one, item by item. The discrepancies stand out — and only the discrepancies.
• Time-stamped key handover, so it is clear exactly from when each party had use of the property.

One honest clarification: Domilinko does not constitute or hold the rental deposit. It is set up off-platform, on a blocked account, as Belgian law organises it. What we do is document the condition of the property — which is, in practice, what decides the fate of that deposit.

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The deadlines for drawing up the inventory, the maximum deposit amounts and the rules for releasing it differ between Brussels, Wallonia and Flanders. Check the rule in force with your Region's official source.