Steps You Should Take to protect your Rental Property
Date Added: August 17, 2008 06:22:46 AM
Landlords and tenants alike will find that they need to be vigilant when they decide to enter the venture. Tenants must make sure that they are getting what they pay for. No use paying for thousands of dollars for something that costs little over 300 USD. Landlords on the other hand also have to make sure that their tenants are trustworthy. They have to be sure that they are not jeopardizing an entire profit making rental property because of a tenant with malicious intent.
Steps You Should Take
As a landlord, your concern for your property should not end the moment a tenant signs a lease. You should beware of the dangers that the wrong tenant could bring. That is why you need to take steps to ensure that you only lease your property to the best possible candidates. Some of these steps are found below.
- Background Checks and Police Clearances – If you can afford to get a background check from your potential tenants. Go ahead and do that. But, if you can’t, it may help if you require then to submit police and federal clearance certificates. This helps you ensure that you tenants have no grave legal offenses.
- Meet Everybody – another important step that a landlord should take is to meet each and every one of your adult tenants. Interview them if you have the time. Make sure that they seem like respectable and trustworthy individuals.
- Make Your Lease Contract Iron Clad – Make sure that your lease contract covers everything that you are worried about. If you don’t want your clients to make any structural changes, then put it in your contract. If you want to be informed of any additional residents, put that in too. It is also advised that you set up an elaborate payment agreement and make sure your tenant understands it before he/she signs.
What Could Go Wrong?
One of the biggest fears that a landlord has is the idea of a tenant who wouldn’t pay rent. Worse is one who constantly avoids you on collection day. Despite the fact that you asked for a down payment and several month’s rent in advance you could never be sure that, that tenant will pay until he actually does.
Another problem is property vandalism. After a tenant leaves you may find that the place isn’t as nice as when it was first rented out. The walls may have holes when there didn’t used to be holes and the plumbing could be on the fritz. That is the reason why you need a good lease contract.
Legal problems are another issue that a landlord must consider. What if you tenant decides to set up a meth lab in your Rental Property. Keep in mind that most illegal drug labs are set up on rented property. That could be potentially problematic for you. You could end up loosing the property in a lab fire or the place could be tied up in legal troubles. The police could decide to ban you from your rental property and treat it as evidence. In any case – it’s nothing but a nightmare.
