Shared House Inspection Checklist

Who this is for

The inspection round for a house in shared occupation. A room-by-room table records the condition of each let room and shared space and whether access was gained, and a checklist underneath covers the escape route, alarms, kitchen and bathroom sharing.

Landlords and managers of shared houses and student lets, live-in landlords with lodgers, housing associations and letting agents who inspect properties where several households share a kitchen, bathroom or hallway.

What this helps you track

• Which rooms were entered, which were not, and why access was not gained
• The condition of each let room and each shared space on the day
• Problems that belong to the house rather than to any one occupant
• How many rooms came out in poor condition, round after round

How to use it

1. Give notice in the way your tenancy agreements and local rules require, then date the sheet.
2. Take the rooms in a fixed order — hall, kitchen, bathrooms, shared rooms, then the let rooms.
3. Mark condition and tick access where you got into the room; note the reason where you did not.
4. Write the issue and the action for anything that needs work, and say whose job it is.
5. Work through the shared facilities checklist while you are in the house, not afterwards.
6. Sign the sheet, send the occupants what you agreed to send them, and keep your copy on file.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

How is this different from a normal rental inspection?

A single-tenancy inspection looks at one household in one property. This one is built for a house where rooms are let separately: it separates the shared parts from the individual rooms and records access to each room.

What are the rules for shared houses where I am?

They vary a great deal — licensing, room standards, alarm and escape requirements and notice periods are all set locally. This sheet records what you found; it does not state what you must do.

What if a tenant refuses access?

Leave the access tick blank and write the reason in the issue column. A dated record of an attempted inspection is worth having, and the pattern matters if it keeps happening.

Can I give a copy to the occupants?

Yes. Many managers print two copies, sign both and leave one in the house. The browser version prints a completed copy or saves it as a PDF.