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Tenant Move-In & Move-Out Software for Indian Rentals

Three months after move-out,
they're still arguing over the kitchen tile.

EstateDeck Move-In/Out captures the unit's condition with photos, room-by-room inventory, and meter readings — both at move-in and move-out. The deposit refund is calculated automatically, with itemised deductions, and signed off by all three parties. No more 90-day deposit disputes.

Schedule of Condition · Wear-and-tear tagging · Deposit + interest accrual · §65B-admissible signed record.

See the workflow →
In plain English

EstateDeck Move-In/Out is the workflow that handles the physical handover event between landlord and tenant — capturing the unit's condition with timestamped photos and a room-by-room inventory at move-in, recording the meter snapshot for electricity, water and gas at the exact event time, holding the security deposit (with optional interest accrual), running the symmetric inspection at move-out, and auto-calculating the final deposit refund with itemised, photo-backed deductions. The signed record is admissible as electronic evidence under IT Act 2000 §65B.

2 mo
Security deposit cap (residential)
Model Tenancy Act 2021 framework
30 days
Deposit return window
after vacating premises
3 signers
Landlord + tenant + RWA witness
on every handover record
§65B
IT Act 2000 admissibility
for the signed PDF
A real Schedule of Condition

This is what stops the argument before it starts.

Mrs. Hetal Pandya runs a 380-flat AOA in Bopal, Ahmedabad. Here's a sample move-out for Flat A-704 — 28 months of tenancy, ₹40,000 security deposit, calculated to the rupee with photo evidence on every line.

Flat A-704 · Deposit Settlement · 28-month tenancy Signed · 3 parties
Item Move-in state Move-out state Tagged as Deduction
Living room wall paint Fresh white Slight yellowing, no marks Fair wear ₹0
Kitchen tile (3 tiles) Intact Cracked — heavy object dropped Damage −₹2,400
Bathroom mirror Intact Cracked, replaced by tenant Restored ₹0
Master bedroom AC remote Present, working Missing Missing item −₹600
Balcony grill paint Black, intact Slight rust at base Fair wear ₹0
Electricity meter (snapshot) 4,287 kWh 9,124 kWh — final bill cleared Settled ₹0
Deposit interest (28 mo @ 4%) Accrued monthly Add to refund +₹3,733
Net refund (₹40,000 deposit − ₹3,000 deductions + ₹3,733 interest) ₹40,733
Every line has a side-by-side photo, a wear-vs-damage tag, and three signatures (landlord, tenant, AOA witness). When the tenant signed, the argument ended. The refund went out by NEFT the same evening.
Why deposit disputes happen — and what's actually broken

The four ways a tenancy ends in a fight nobody wins.

"There was no scratch when I moved in"

No move-in photos, no checklist. Two years later, every nick on the wall becomes a deposit deduction or a denial. Both sides feel cheated. Neither has proof.

The 90-day silent refund

Tenant vacates, landlord disappears, deposit doesn't come back. Tenant has no documented baseline to argue with. Conciliation drags on. Sometimes it ends in consumer court.

Wear-and-tear vs damage gets political

A faded wall after three years is wear-and-tear. A hole from a wall-mount drill is damage. Without a documented standard, every deduction becomes a personal argument.

The "I don't owe utility bills" fight

Last electricity bill, last water bill, last DG charges — settled how, against what meter reading? Without a move-out snapshot, the final bill becomes the next month's dispute.

What this module owns · what it deliberately doesn't

Move-In/Out is the handover event.
It hands clean data to the other modules.

EstateDeck is built as a set of focused modules — each one owns its own slice and hands off cleanly to the next. Here's exactly where the Move-In/Out module starts and stops.

This module owns

  • The physical move event — scheduling, lift slot booking, walkthrough orchestration.
  • Schedule of Condition — the room-by-room ingoing inventory checklist with photos.
  • Condition photos — timestamped, EXIF-tagged, stored as §65B-admissible record.
  • Meter snapshot at event — the precise electricity / water / gas reading on move day.
  • Security deposit record — amount held, lease tied, interest accrual configured.
  • Wear vs damage attribution — line-by-line tagging at move-out.
  • Deposit refund calculation — deductions + interest = final refund line item.
  • Tri-party digital signature — landlord + tenant + RWA witness on every document.

This module defers to

  • The rent agreement PDF, e-stamped / registered lease, police verification live in Property Document Repository. We link to the agreement; we don't duplicate the storage.
  • The deposit refund posting to the books, ledger entries, bank reconciliation live in Property Accounting. We compute the refund; Accounting posts it.
  • Maintenance dues outstanding, shifting charges, NOC dues block live in Maintenance Billing. Move-Out checks billing status — it doesn't manage it.
  • The canonical occupancy state, owner / tenant / vacant flag, parking allocation live in Unit Management. We trigger the update; Unit Management is the source of truth.

Move-In: capture the baseline

Schedule of Condition

Schedule of Condition

A room-by-room baseline that ends the argument before it starts.

  • Pre-built rooms: Kitchen, master bedroom, second bedroom, living, dining, bath(s), balcony, parking. Add custom rooms (study, pooja, servant quarter).
  • Fixture checklist per room: Walls, floor, ceiling, switches, fans, lights, AC, geyser, modular kitchen, wardrobes, taps, mirror — each tagged Working / Faulty / Missing.
  • Photo proof: Every checklist item carries one or more EXIF-timestamped photos. GPS-tagged to the unit's location.
  • Side-by-side signing: Landlord and tenant sign each room as they walk through. RWA witness signs at the end.
Meter snapshot

Move-event meter snapshot

The reading that makes the last bill un-disputable.

  • Electricity, water, gas: Each meter photographed, reading transcribed, timestamped to the move event.
  • Smart meter handshake: If the unit has a smart meter via EstateDeck IoT Utility, the snapshot syncs automatically. Otherwise we capture the analog reading manually.
  • Closing-bill baseline: The move-out reading becomes the baseline for the tenant's final utility bill. No dispute on what was consumed.
  • Connection ID logged: DISCOM consumer number, water connection ID — stored against the unit forever, transferred to the new tenant.

The deposit: held, tracked, accrued

Deposit hold

Deposit record & interest accrual

The deposit is a real number, on a real screen, with a real running balance.

  • Capped per the law: Aligned with the Model Tenancy Act 2021 framework — 2 months residential, 6 months non-residential — where the state has adopted it. State Rent Acts apply otherwise.
  • Interest configurable: Where state law or society bye-laws require interest on deposit (some Maharashtra leave-and-license arrangements, MCS member transfers), configure the rate. EstateDeck accrues monthly.
  • Receipt PDF: Auto-generated deposit receipt with property details, deposit amount, lease term, and the interest rule. Stored against the unit.
  • Live balance: Both landlord and tenant see the deposit + accrued interest in their app, every month.
Wear and tear

Wear-and-tear vs damage standard

A documented standard, applied consistently — not "it depends who's asking."

  • Two-rule attribution: Age (does it fail because of normal use over a normal lease?) + severity (is it cosmetic or structural?). Each line tagged with both.
  • Indian Contract Act §73 anchor: The damage deduction follows the "reasonable foreseeable loss" standard — not the cost of premium replacement.
  • Standard pricing book: Pre-configured deduction amounts for common items (₹600 missing remote, ₹800/tile, ₹2,500/door scuff). Customisable per society.
  • Override with reason: Any deduction outside the standard requires a written reason and three-party sign-off.

Move-Out: the symmetric inspection

Side by side

Side-by-side photo comparison

The ingoing photo and the outgoing photo, on the same screen, for every item.

  • Same checklist, different state: The exact same Schedule of Condition runs in reverse — every room, every fixture.
  • Tap to compare: Tap any line, see the ingoing photo and the outgoing photo together. The variance is obvious.
  • Restored items: If the tenant has already restored something (repainted a wall, replaced a mirror), tag it as "Restored" — no deduction.
  • Common-area photos: Lift, lobby, corridor — photographed before and after the shifting truck moves, so any move-day damage is visible.
Auto refund

Auto-calculated refund

The deposit refund is a calculation, not a negotiation.

  • Itemised breakdown: Deposit held + accrued interest − itemised deductions = net refund. Every line clickable to the source photo.
  • Tri-party sign-off: Landlord, tenant, RWA witness sign the same screen. Lock applied after final signature.
  • NEFT trigger: Once signed, the refund line item is pushed to EstateDeck Accounting for the actual bank transfer.
  • Dispute evidence pack: If anything is contested, one click exports the full PDF — photos, checklist, signatures, audit log — admissible per IT Act §65B.

After the move: audit + handoff

Resident history

Per-unit resident history

Who lived in A-704, when, and how they left.

  • Permanent archive: Every move event stored against the unit — tenant name, lease window, deposit, refund, deductions, signed PDF.
  • One search: "Who lived in A-704 in 2023?" returns name, agreement, and condition record in seconds.
  • Triggers Unit DB update: Once move-out is marked complete, the canonical occupancy state in Unit Management flips to vacant (or to the new tenant).
  • App access auto-revoked: The outgoing tenant's resident-app access ends the moment the move-out signature is locked.
Internal move

Internal moves & portfolio support

Tenant moving from B-402 to A-1201? Owner moving into their own flat? Handled.

  • Linked inter-unit moves: Outgoing inventory on old unit + ingoing on new unit, in one event. Deposit transfers, doesn't refund-and-recollect.
  • Owner moves in: When a unit shifts from rented to self-occupied, the tenant move-out runs but the owner doesn't run a fresh ingoing.
  • Multi-property landlords: Run move-in/out across a portfolio of 10–100 units from one dashboard. Each unit has its own Schedule of Condition.
  • Lift slot booking: Reserve the service lift / freight lift slot during the move window — feeds into Amenity Booking for conflict-free allocation.
Who's actually using this

Three buyer profiles. One workflow. Three signatures.

The Move-In/Out module is in production with three distinct buyer profiles. Pick the one closest to yours.

Individual landlord

1–5 rental units, self-managed

Resident or NRI landlord renting out one or a few units. EstateDeck runs the inspection on the landlord's phone with the tenant. The signed PDF goes by email. Deposit refund triggered to UPI / NEFT.

RWA-managed building

50–500 flat housing society

The Hon. Secretary or Treasurer runs as the witness signer. Three-party record makes deposit disputes auditable at AGM. Owner sleeps abroad; AOA witnesses the handover on the ground.

Professional property manager

500+ flat complex · paid PM staff

Property Manager runs the inspection app on their phone, tenant signs in person, owner receives signed PDF by email. Each new tenant onboarded in 30 minutes. Move-out refund calculated to the rupee.

The Indian legal frame this is built on

Not opinions. Statutory anchors a consumer court already recognises.

Model Tenancy Act 2021

Central framework: security deposit capped at 2 months rent for residential, 6 months for non-residential. Deposit return within 1 month of vacating, subject to lawful deductions. State adoption varies — EstateDeck applies whichever framework you configure.

Transfer of Property Act 1882

Section 105 defines a lease. Section 108 sets out the duties of lessor and lessee — including the duty to deliver possession in a particular condition and the obligation not to damage. The Schedule of Condition gives both parties documented proof of that condition.

Indian Contract Act 1872 §73-75

Damages for breach are limited to "reasonable foreseeable loss" — not premium replacement cost. The wear-vs-damage standard EstateDeck applies on every deduction follows §73, which keeps deductions defensible if contested.

IT Act 2000 §65B

Electronic records (photos with EXIF, e-signed checklists, audit trails) are admissible as evidence. The signed handover PDF — photos + signatures + device IDs + timestamps — meets §65B requirements for consumer court, conciliation, or civil suit.

State Rent Control Acts

Where the Model Tenancy Act 2021 is not yet adopted, state Rent Acts apply — Maharashtra Rent Control Act 1999, Karnataka Rent Act 2001, TN Regulation of Rights Act 2017, and others. EstateDeck applies the configured state framework per unit.

Income Tax Act §194-IB

Where monthly rent exceeds ₹50,000 and the tenant is an individual / HUF not subject to tax audit, 5% TDS applies on rent. EstateDeck flags this at lease setup so landlords aren't blindsided at year-end. (Section §194-I applies to businesses.)

From the field

Ahmedabad · 380 flats · property-manager-led.

"For five years we ran move-in inspections on a paper form that everyone signed and nobody could find six months later. Deposit refunds turned into three-month phone-call wars. After we moved to EstateDeck Move-In/Out, every handover is a 25-minute walkthrough on the phone, with photos. Last quarter we did 14 move-outs. Average refund processed in 4 days. Zero disputes opened. The signed PDF is in the unit folder forever — even if I leave the AOA next year."
Mrs. Hetal Pandya Property Manager · Sunrise Heights AOA · 380 flats · 4 towers
Bopal, Ahmedabad-380058, Gujarat · Gujarat Ownership of Flats Act 1973 registered
Migrated to EstateDeck Move-In/Out · 14 months production · 162 move events handled
Side by side

Paper checklist vs spreadsheet vs EstateDeck

The move event Paper checklist Spreadsheet + WhatsApp photos EstateDeck Move-In/Out
Where it lives 2 years later Lost in a file cabinet In someone's old phone Permanent per-unit archive
Photo evidence Not taken Untagged, scattered EXIF + timestamp + GPS
Wear vs damage standard Argued case by case Argued case by case Documented two-rule standard
Deposit refund calc Manual; error-prone Manual; error-prone Auto-calculated, itemised
Interest accrual Forgotten Forgotten Monthly, automatic, visible
Signed by all parties Ink, on one page Verbal "OK na" Three digital signatures locked
Legal admissibility If you still have it WhatsApp screenshots IT Act §65B compliant PDF
Average dispute resolution 6–12 weeks 6–12 weeks Usually zero — signed at the time
Quick answers

Move-in, move-out, deposit refund — asked and answered.

The questions every landlord, RWA Secretary, and tenant asks before the first move event.

What is tenant move-in and move-out software?
Tenant move-in and move-out software is a workflow tool that captures the condition of a rental unit at the start and end of a tenancy — using photos, a room-by-room checklist, meter readings, and digital signatures — so that the security deposit can be settled fairly at move-out. EstateDeck Move-In/Out replaces paper checklists and forwarded WhatsApp photos with a single signed record that is admissible as electronic evidence under IT Act 2000 §65B.
Is this just a checklist or does it actually settle the deposit?
Both. The checklist is the input; the deposit refund is the output. EstateDeck compares the ingoing inventory against the outgoing inventory line by line. Every variance is tagged either as fair wear-and-tear (no deduction, per Indian Contract Act §73 reasonableness standard) or as damage (deduction, with photo evidence). The final refund amount is shown to all three parties — landlord, tenant, and RWA witness — and signed before the bank transfer is triggered through EstateDeck Accounting.
How is fair wear-and-tear distinguished from damage?
The Schedule of Condition module tags every variance using two rules. Age — anything that fails because of normal use over a normal lease term (2-3 years) is wear-and-tear, not damage. Severity — a faded wall is wear-and-tear; a permanent stain or hole is damage. The app shows the ingoing and outgoing photo side-by-side, and the property manager or RWA witness makes the call with the tenant present. If both sides disagree, the tagged photo + reason becomes the evidence pack for any later dispute.
What does the Model Tenancy Act 2021 say about security deposits?
Under the Model Tenancy Act 2021 framework, the security deposit is capped at two months of rent for residential premises and six months for non-residential premises. The Act prescribes return of the deposit within one month of vacating the premises, subject to lawful deductions. State adoption varies — Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and a few others have moved on the framework; in states that have not adopted it, the relevant state Rent Control Act governs. EstateDeck applies whichever framework you configure for the unit.
Does EstateDeck calculate interest on the security deposit?
Yes, where applicable. Most state Rent Control Acts and cooperative society bye-laws (for example MCS Act member-member transfers and certain Maharashtra leave-and-license arrangements) require interest on long-held deposits. Configure the rate per the lease, and EstateDeck accrues it monthly. The accrued interest is shown to both parties throughout the tenancy and is automatically added to the refund line at move-out.
What about the meter readings at move-in and move-out?
EstateDeck Move-In/Out records the precise meter reading for electricity, water and gas at the move event timestamp, with a photo of the meter face as proof. This is the snapshot reading — for ongoing per-month consumption data, the unit's smart meter feeds into the EstateDeck IoT Utility module. The snapshot reading at move-in becomes the baseline; consumption between then and move-out is the tenant's bill, settled before deposit refund.
Where is the rent agreement itself stored?
The rent agreement PDF — the actual stamped, registered document — is stored in the EstateDeck Document Repository, per-unit folder. EstateDeck Move-In/Out does not duplicate that storage. We link to the agreement from the move event so the lease term, deposit amount, and any custom clauses are always one click away.
Is the signed handover document legally admissible?
Yes. The combined record — timestamped photos with EXIF data, room-by-room checklist, meter snapshots, and three digital signatures — qualifies as electronic record under IT Act 2000 §65B. EstateDeck preserves the audit trail (who signed, when, from which device, with what IP) so the document is admissible as evidence if a deposit deduction is later contested in consumer court, RWA conciliation, or civil suit.
Who can run the move-in inspection — the landlord, the RWA, or a property manager?
Any of the three. For individual landlords, the workflow is two-party (landlord + tenant). For RWA-managed buildings, an RWA witness role is added as the third signer to make the record more robust at audit. For professionally managed complexes, the Property Manager runs the inspection with the tenant; the landlord receives the signed PDF by email. Roles are configurable per unit.
Does it handle inter-tower or inter-unit moves within the same society?
Yes. When a tenant or owner moves from one unit to another within the same complex, the app runs the outgoing inventory on the old unit and the ingoing inventory on the new unit as a linked event. The occupancy state in EstateDeck Unit Management is updated for both units in one transaction, parking allocation is moved, and the deposit (if any) is transferred against the new unit rather than being refunded and re-collected.

Stop the deposit dispute
before it ever starts.

We'll show you the move-in walkthrough, the deposit refund calc, and the signed §65B handover PDF — in a 20-minute demo for a society or portfolio your size.

Book the Move-In/Out Demo →