How to Maintain Your Rental Property

Landlords who want to keep their renters around for the long haul need to keep their rentals in good shape. Performing regular maintenance and making strategic property upgrades is part of the job, as well as staying vigilant when it comes to potential property issues.

If you’re successful in renting out a well-maintained rental property, you can easily attract renters and reduce tenant turnovers. Vacancies can lead to a lack of income, not to mention high marketing and maintenance costs so it’s ideal to keep your unit occupied. To do this, you must keep up with your maintenance tasks.

Over time, your real estate property is also bound to reflect wear and tear. This kind of wear and tear can be slowed down with a great preventive maintenance program.

What Are the Maintenance Duties of a Landlord?

Distributing Trash Receptacles around the Rental

As a rental property owner, you’re expected to provide garbage containers to keep a healthy environment for the residents. How many should you issue and what size should they be?

This will depend on the number of renters occupying your unit and how often the garbage collection happens in your neighborhood. If there are several people staying in your unit and the garbage truck only picks up the trash once a week, then you might need several trash cans around the rental.

Supplying Running Water

To ensure that your rental property is habitable, you need to provide a constant water supply. Nobody wants to stay in a unit where water is scarce, since this makes it hard to take a shower, use the toilet, cook, and clean. It’s your responsibility to supply running water to all of your tenants.

Adhering to Building and Safety Codes

As a landlord, you must prioritize the safety of your tenants. To achieve this, you need to set up smoke alarms for fire prevention and carbon dioxide detectors, resolve mold issues, and keep pest infestation in control. You’re also expected to address their property maintenance requests and complaints concerning property maintenance issues.

Creating a safe environment means making sure the amount of tenants living in your rental are within the allowed maximum amount of occupants. If you exceed the acceptable number, then it can be dangerous for the residents when a property emergency occurs.

In the case of a fire, for example, it would take a long time for the residents of the building to exit the premises since the excess of people could cause a blockage. To avoid dangerous events like a stampede, it’s best to comply with the proper number of inhabitants.

Maintaining the Common Areas of the Property

In a rental space, especially in an apartment complex or condominium tower, certain areas are designated as common. This is where residents can spend time relaxing or gathering and enjoying time. As these are frequented areas, it’s vital for landlords to maintain them by scheduling cleaning.

Aside from cleaning, landlords must also inspect the common areas for safety to prevent injuries, falls, and slips. Your job is to check the flooring, stairs, and banisters. Make sure that lighting is also sufficient.

Coordinating Property Repairs

Responsive landlords make their tenants happy. If issues are quickly resolved and the landlord schedules repairs right away when a renter reports a problem, then they’re more likely to become long-term residents.

For damage caused by the tenant, the repair costs are deducted from the security deposit. But landlords are in charge of fixing a damaged item or replacing it if it was caused by normal wear and tear.

Ensuring the Functionality of Home Systems

A landlord’s job is to make certain that the critical home systems are in excellent working order. This refers to plumbing, heating, and electrical systems. They must also remain vigilant in reducing service interruptions.

If paying the bills is assigned to the renters, then a landlord must remind the renters to pay on time so that vital services aren’t shut down.

What are the Legal Maintenance Duties of Tenants?

Here are some of the general maintenance duties that tenants are responsible for:

Cleaning the Rental Unit

No matter how many trash bins the landlord distributes around the rental, the renters must practice proper disposal to keep the area sanitized and avoid pest infestation.

Keeping the Rental Home Safe

Landlords are expected to provide access to emergency exits, but it’s the job of the renters to remove the barriers blocking it. Any blockages can be dangerous, especially during an emergency that requires everyone to evacuate the property.

Tenants must also avoid tampering with fire alarms and smoke detectors. They must not remove the batteries since these are security tools to keep them safe.

Following the Building and Housing Codes

As much as tenants might want to reduce their rental fees by welcoming more residents, it can impact the safety of the residents. If a unit is overcrowded, it can lead to property damage and rising utility bills.

It’s important for renters to abide by the leasing agreement policies on the number of renters allowed to stay in the property.

Preventing Mold Growth

Tenants must limit excess moisture by opening the bathroom windows after a shower or switching on fans to dry up an area, such as the laundry site. It’s important to alert your landlord of a mold problem as soon as possible so that the issue can be resolved promptly.

Bottom Line

Keep in mind that as a landlord, you’re not allowed to include a clause in the lease that puts the tenants in charge of all property maintenance and repairs. While tenants may agree to handle some basic repairs, property maintenance is your responsibility.

We know that managing a rental property can be stressful and time-consuming. If you need help with the maintenance and management of your rental property, consider hiring a trusted property management company. To learn more, contact Redsail Property Management today!