In BC, skipping the move-in inspection report extinguishes your right to claim the deposit for damage. Not weakens it — extinguishes it.

Alberta applies the same consequence. Ontario does not require inspection reports at all, and prohibits damage deposits outright, which trips up landlords who own in more than one province.

The half hour at move-in is the cheapest half hour in this business. Here is what each province requires.

Alberta

Inspections are mandatory. Both the move-in and the move-out inspection happen within one week before or after the tenant takes or gives up possession. The unit should be vacant unless both parties agree otherwise.

If the tenant will not attend, you inspect alone, but only after offering two times on two different non-holiday days between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

What the report records: the date, who attended, your statement of condition, and the tenant's statement agreeing or disagreeing. If the tenant refuses to sign or does not attend, note it. Give the tenant a copy. Keep the report three years.

Consequence of skipping it: you cannot deduct anything for damage or cleaning from the deposit.

Deposit rules: maximum one month's rent, into a trust account within two days of receipt. A refundable pet damage deposit is allowed but counts inside the one-month cap. A non-refundable pet fee sits outside the deposit rules and is treated as rent.

Return deadline: ten days from the tenant giving up possession, either the deposit plus interest or a statement of account with the balance. Where final costs are not known, deliver an estimated statement within 10 days and a final statement within 30 days after the tenancy ends. No deduction for normal wear and tear.

Interest: Alberta sets the rate annually at three points below ATB's one-year GIC rate. It was 1.6% for 2024, 0.5% for 2025, and 0% for 2026 — no interest is payable on 2026.

British Columbia

Reports are mandatory, on Form RTB-27, signed by both parties, with a copy to the tenant.

The two-opportunity rule: you must offer the tenant two opportunities to attend the inspection, on the prescribed form. Skipping this is the most common way a small landlord loses a deposit claim.

Consequence of skipping it: your right to claim against both the security deposit and the pet damage deposit for damage is extinguished. The deposit goes back in full regardless of the state of the unit.

Deposit amounts: security deposit up to half of one month's rent, pet damage deposit up to half of one month's rent regardless of how many pets, combined maximum one month's rent.

The 15-day rule: from the later of the tenancy ending or receiving the tenant's written forwarding address, you have 15 days to either return the deposit with interest or file for dispute resolution.

The doubling penalty: miss the 15 days and the tribunal orders you to pay double the deposits plus interest. Tenants file a direct request 20 days after the tenancy ends, and these are close to automatic.

Ontario

Ontario runs on a different model entirely.

Damage deposits and pet deposits are illegal. The only deposit permitted is a rent deposit, capped at one month or one rent period, taken at or before the start of the tenancy. It is last month's rent, not a damage fund — the rent deposit must be applied to the last rental period, and applying it to damage or arrears without written consent is a breach.

Interest is payable annually at the guideline rate — 2.5% for 2025, 2.1% for 2026.

Condition inspection reports are not required. They are also the single strongest piece of evidence available to you at a hearing, and nothing stops you from doing them. Damage claims in Ontario run as applications for compensation, and they succeed or fail on documentation.

The standard lease is mandatory for most private residential tenancies signed on or after April 30, 2018. Care homes, mobile home and land lease sites, co-ops and most social housing are exempt. The remedy for failing to provide it has teeth: the tenant asks in writing, and if you do not deliver within 21 days, the tenant withholds up to one month's rent. Continued failure lets the tenant keep it and end the tenancy on 60 days notice.

Rent receipts must be provided free on request, including to former tenants within 12 months of the tenancy ending.

What a report has to contain to be useful

Provincial forms set the minimum. What wins at a hearing goes further.

• Room by room, surface by surface — walls, floors, ceilings, windows, doors, fixtures, appliances. Note existing damage in specific language: "Scuff, 10 cm, north wall, left of door" beats "minor marks."
• Photographs with visible dates, taken the same day as the report, keyed to the room — a photo set with no date is a photo set an adjudicator discounts.
• Meter readings and key counts where the lease assigns utilities or you issue fobs.
• Both signatures, or a clear note explaining their absence.
• One file per unit per tenancy, stored somewhere you will find it three years later.

The comparison

• Alberta — inspection report required, no deduction for damage if skipped, security deposit max 1 month, pet deposit inside that cap, return deadline 10 days, 0% interest for 2026.
• BC — inspection report required (Form RTB-27), deposit claim extinguished if skipped, security deposit max half a month, pet deposit up to a further half month, return deadline 15 days, interest at the RTB rate.
• Ontario — no inspection report requirement, damage and pet deposits not permitted, only a last-month's-rent deposit of 1 month, applied to the final rental period, interest at 2.1% for 2026.

The habit worth building

Do the inspection with the tenant present, on the day of the key handover, both times. Photograph as you go. Sign before anyone leaves.

The tenant who signs a move-in report agreeing the carpet was stained is not going to argue about it at move-out. The tenant who never saw a report will, and in two of these three provinces they will win by default.

LuxOasisOS stores condition reports and dated photos against the unit and the tenancy, so a claim two years later opens as a file rather than a search through a phone.