Both the tenant and the landlord or Property Practitioner must perform the joint incoming and outgoing inspection. Failure to perform
both joint inspections is deemed an acknowledgement that the property was handed back in good order.
RHA
Section 5 Provisions pertaining to the lease
(3)
(e)
the tenant and the landlord must jointly, before the tenant moves into the dwelling, inspect the dwelling to ascertain
the existence or not of any defects or damage therein with a view to determining the landlord’s responsibility
for rectifying any defects or damage or with a view to registering such defects or damage, as provided for in
subsection (7);
(f)
at the expiration of the lease the landlord and tenant must arrange a joint inspection of the dwelling at a mutually
convenient time to take place within a period of three days prior to such expiration with a view to ascertaining
if there was any damage caused to the dwelling during the tenant’s occupation thereof;
…
(j)
failure by the landlord to inspect the dwelling in the presence of the tenant as contemplated in paragraphs (e) or
(f) is deemed to be an acknowledgement by the landlord that the dwelling is in a good and proper state of repair,
and the landlord will have no further claim against the tenant who must then be refunded, in terms of this subsection,
the full deposit plus interest by the landlord;
(k)
should the tenant fail to respond to the landlord’s request for an inspection as contemplated in paragraph (f), the
landlord must, on expiration of the lease, inspect the dwelling within seven days from such expiration in order
to assess any damages or loss which occurred during the tenancy;
…
(o)
should the tenant vacate the dwelling before expiration of the lease, without notice to the landlord, the lease is
deemed to have expired on the date that the landlord established that the tenant had vacated the dwelling but
in such event the landlord retains all his or her rights arising from the tenant’s breach of the lease;
Please see TPN's
video on the Rental Housing Act for more information.