A long video may capture a home and still be awkward to use months later. A useful inventory lets you answer a specific question: how many keys were handed over, which remote did not work or where a door was already marked.

Articles 1604 and 1605 of Yucatán’s Civil Code give the description of the property at receipt legal relevance. A detailed record helps organise evidence; a professional should assess its legal effect in an actual dispute.

Choose an order you can repeat

Walk through the entrance, living area, kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms and outdoor areas in a consistent sequence. Give each room a fixed name. Patio bedroom may be easier to identify later than bedroom two if nobody agreed on the numbering.

For each item or surface, record its location, description, quantity, observed condition and photo reference. Add a legible brand or model where it helps identify equipment. You do not need a separate picture of every teaspoon, but record the number of pieces in a supplied set.

For example: patio bathroom, wooden door, one, scuff on lower corner, photos B03 and B04. That statement can be checked without arguing over whether a mark was small or normal.

Separate present from tested

An appliance being in the house does not establish that it works. Use clear labels: present, tested at handover or not yet tested. If there is no time to run the washing machine together, agree how the first wash will be checked and reported. Do not mark an appliance working when nobody switched it on.

List keys, remotes and access devices separately. Check with the responsible person what each key opens. Keep keys secure while doing so. Record accessible meter readings with the date, remembering that the picture does not establish the account’s payment status.

Give unfinished work its own list

  • The repair or missing item
  • Who will arrange it
  • The proposed completion date
  • How access will be provided
  • How completion will be confirmed

Describe any unresolved leak without marking it repaired. Separate observations both parties accept from points still in dispute. Keep additions readable rather than burying them in a string of messages.

Keep a shared version and your own copy

Number the pages and photographs. Send the record to the agreed contact and request acknowledgement and corrections. If it will become part of the agreement, ask how that should be formalised. Keep the original file and a separate copy that does not depend on an expiring link or someone else’s phone.

Treat the record as private. It can reveal possessions, access points and service-account details. At move-out, use the same sequence and camera angles. Two comparable records are easier to discuss than two unrelated photo albums.