The check-out: comparing against your baseline

The check-in built your baseline. The check-out is where it pays. A move-out inspection is not a second photo shoot: it is a comparison, room by room and finding by finding, between the property today and the property both parties signed off on. Done right, it produces the one document that settles the deposit conversation before it becomes a dispute. This tutorial walks the full flow: matching photos against the check-in, judging what changed, counting the furniture and the keys, and reading the comparison report you hand to both parties.

Before you start: the tenancy should have a signed check-in in Snagify (that is your baseline; if yours was on paper, you can still run a check-out, the comparison is just manual). Schedule the check-out after the tenant has moved their belongings out: furniture and boxes hide exactly the surfaces you need to see.

Step 1: Start the check-out from the tenancy (1 minute)

Open the property, pick the tenancy, and start a Check-out. Snagify loads everything from your check-in: the rooms in the same order, the baseline photos, the furnished inventory if there was one, and the key handover list. You are not rebuilding anything; you are walking the same route with the baseline in hand.

[SCREENSHOT 1: starting a check-out from the tenancy, rooms preloaded]

Step 2: Match each photo with the ghost (the heart of the flow)

In every room, your check-in photos appear as small thumbnails: tap one and it becomes a translucent ghost over your camera. Line up the same framing, the same corner, the same wall, and capture. The result is a true before-and-after pair: same angle, same coverage, months apart, impossible to accuse of comparing different things.

Match every check-in photo this way before adding anything new. A baseline photo without its check-out twin appears in the report as “Not photographed at check-out”, which is honest, but a matched pair is always stronger.

[SCREENSHOT 3: the “Tap to match” thumbnails in a room]

Found something that was not there at check-in? Use Capture for a new finding, wide shot then close-up, with the size in frame, exactly as at check-in. The photo technique does not change; only the context does.

Step 3: Judge each finding: the four verdicts

For every finding, Snagify compares against the baseline and suggests one of four verdicts, which you confirm or correct:

• New: it was not there at check-in. This is the category deposits are debated over.
• Worsened: it existed, and it is measurably worse. The report states both states, with both dates.
• Unchanged: it existed and it is the same. Pre-existing wear is the tenant’s best friend, and the baseline proves it.
• Resolved: it was there and it is gone. It happens more than you would think.

The same finding type can be both New and Unchanged in one room: an old crack unchanged on the ceiling, a new one on the wall. Snagify tracks each instance separately, so honest complexity never becomes a contradiction. Confirm what the AI suggests only when it matches what your eyes say; every verdict is yours before it is printed.

[SCREENSHOT 4: a finding review with the suggested verdict being confirmed]

Step 4: Walk the inventory, if the property is furnished (5 minutes)

For furnished properties, the inventory pass compares every documented item against its check-in state: condition today versus condition then, with a fresh photo for anything that changed. An item that is gone is recorded as Missing, with its baseline photo as proof it existed. The report shows each item as a before-and-after card, so a scratched coffee table or a missing mattress is a lookup, not a debate.

[SCREENSHOT 5: an inventory item card, check-in vs check-out]

Step 5: Count the keys back (2 minutes)

The key return screen shows exactly what was handed over at check-in: door keys, access cards, parking cards, with their counts. Mark what came back. A missing access card is a finding like any other, it appears in the evolution summary, and it weighs on the overall verdict. This is routinely the last AED 500 conversation of a tenancy, and it is settled by a list both parties signed a year ago.

[SCREENSHOT 6: the key return screen with one item short]

Step 6: Generate and read the comparison report (3 minutes)

Generate the report and give its second page a minute; it is the executive view of the whole tenancy:

• Evolution since check-in: every finding bucketed New, Worsened, Unchanged or Resolved, each naming its room; the inventory changes with their transitions; the keys line if anything is short. One block, the whole story.
• The location seal: when GPS data allows it, the report attests that check-out photos were captured at the check-in location. Nobody can suggest the photos came from somewhere else.
• Room comparison: photos and findings counted per room, in and out, with a verdict per room, and a detail line explaining every Degraded or Improved call.

Then the room pages carry every matched pair side by side, and the signature page closes the document. The check-out also cites its check-in by report ID, date and integrity hash: the two documents form a verifiable chain, not two loose PDFs.

[SCREENSHOT 7: the comparison report’s overview page with the Evolution block and location seal]

Step 7: Sign it, even under tension

Check-out signatures happen at the exact moment money is on the table, and that is fine: the report is built for it. Both parties sign on the spot or by remote link with a 7-day window and automatic reminders. A disagreement can be recorded as a refusal with its reason; a non-response becomes documented silence. Whatever the other party does, the report keeps its value, and the deposit conversation happens over evidence instead of memory.

[SCREENSHOT 8: the signature screen on the check-out report]

What you have when you’re done

A signed comparison between two signed states of the same property: every change named, dated, measured and photographed, every non-change proven, the furniture and keys accounted for, and the whole thing chained to its baseline by hash. Most deposit conversations end at the moment both parties read the Evolution block, because there is nothing left to argue about. For the ones that do not, this is exactly the file the RDC weighs.

Frequently asked questions

Can I do a check-out without a Snagify check-in? Yes. You will document the property’s final condition with full photo evidence and signatures; the comparison against your paper baseline is manual. And your next tenancy can start with a free digital check-in, making the chain automatic from then on.

What if the tenant already left the keys and flew home? Run the inspection anyway and send the remote signature link; it works from any country. If they never respond, the report documents the invitation, the reminders, and the closed window.

Who should attend the check-out? Ideally the tenant and the landlord or their agent, with the property empty. In practice the report is built so that whoever is absent can review and sign remotely, with the same photos in front of them.

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The comparison starts with the baseline. Your first check-in is free. Start your free check-in