Tips to Prevent Tenant Damages to Your Rental Property
Keeping your rental property in shape is essential for improving its value over time, ensuring long-term and stable tenancies, attracting future tenants, and charging profitable rent. However, rental property damage caused by existing tenants can lead to financial losses for you and make it challenging to fill vacancies quickly after they leave. While no rental property is safe against the usual wear and tear that happens when someone lives in it, you must watch out for serious damages or minor ones that pile up over time and pave the way for expensive repairs or replacements.
Remember that not all tenants will carefully follow the leasing terms. Some might simply be negligent, while others might fail to report minor damages on time. Hence, this write-up sheds light on what you can do to prevent damage to rental property.
10 Ways to Keep Rental Property Damage at Bay
So, in the case of not-too-responsible tenants, what to do? Damage to rental property can be prevented if you adopt the following strategies:
- Conduct Thorough Screening: Go through every applicant’s rental history and talk to their previous landlords to find out if they were responsible and compliant with lease terms. Check the applicant’s employment status, income, credit history, and criminal background.
- Ask for a Reasonable Security Deposit: Before a tenant damages property accidentally or through negligence, make sure they know there is a reasonably high price to pay for it. In other words, collect a slightly higher than average security deposit so tenants are careful about keeping your property in good shape. When their finances are on the line, tenants will be more likely to honor the lease. You can use the deposit money to pay the repair bills in case of any damage.
- Craft a Proper Lease Agreement: Make sure the agreement details the tenant's responsibilities clearly and mentions what will happen if any maintenance-related terms are violated. Include specific rules about keeping pets, burning candles, smoking, and other actions that might potentially lead to property damage. Also, list common problems the tenant must report to you as soon as possible, like mold growth, pest infestation, leaks, etc.
- Purchase Insurance: In case of tenant damage to property, you must have some financial coverage. Buying landlord insurance can give you just that. Also, try to get tenants to invest in renter’s insurance as it might cover financial liabilities related to any damages caused.
- Inspect Properties Regularly: Inspecting properties regularly can help you spot minor damages at the earliest, before they escalate into something serious. Also, tenants will abide by the lease agreement closely and keep the unit clean and in a good state. Just remember to mention the inspection frequency beforehand and inform tenants about your visit well in advance.
- Document the Property’s State Before and After a Tenancy: This is another way to prevent rental property damage by encouraging tenants to be more cautious during their stay. Inspect the property thoroughly and take pictures and videos before someone moves in. Do the same after they move out. In case of any damage, you can avoid unnecessary disputes with the tenant about how the damage happened and obtain financial compensation from the security deposit if applicable.
- Share Emergency Contact Numbers with Tenants: Even if you inspect a property regularly, you cannot completely avoid emergencies. No one can predict a burst pipe or short circuit, for instance. So, for such cases, make sure your tenants know which contractors to contact urgently so the damage can be minimized.
- Schedule Periodic Cleanups: Once or twice a year, hire professional cleaning services to give your property a good scrub and sparkle. Expert cleaners can also identify rental property damages and pest infestations, which means you can nip the problem in the bud. Moreover, such cleaning sessions can inspire tenants to do their part to minimize everyday wear and tear.
- Forge a Healthy Relationship with Tenants: While tenants should behave responsibly and carefully to minimize damage to rental property, you have specific duties, too. So, listen to what they say, be fair in your treatment, address any concerns promptly, and deal with repair or maintenance requests on time. A respectful relationship between the two of you will also make educating tenants about property upkeep easy.
- Review and Update Lease Terms If Necessary: To avoid situations where a tenant damages property through negligence or an accident, review the lease agreement periodically. An annual review is usually recommended to spot any gaps in the regulations listed for property maintenance and damages. If you feel something is missing in the document, add the same at the time of lease renewal to protect your property further.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, preventing rental property damage is possible when you screen tenants carefully, draw out a proper lease agreement, obtain a reasonable security deposit, and buy landlord insurance. Inspecting properties regularly, arranging for annual cleanups, maintaining a decent relationship with tenants, and reviewing lease terms are other hacks that can help. However, dealing with it alone can be time-consuming and exhausting. Luckily,
can step in to simplify your life as a landlord.
If you opt for a reputable and experienced company, you can rest assured that they will take care of everything from tenant screening, leasing, resident management, and communication to maintenance, rent collection, renewals, and accounting. By availing the services of a property management Minneapolis company, you can stop stressing about property damages and consequent financial losses.
Prevent Tenant Damage to Property with Guardian Property Management
We at
, understand how crucial it is to prevent rental property damages so your business can thrive profitably. We are also aware of the effort that goes into keeping your property in perfect shape despite different kinds of tenants moving in and out all the time. This is why we efficiently and cost-effectively handle preventive maintenance, repairs, emergencies, lawn care, contractors, lease violations, and more. So, to discuss your distinct requirements in detail, contact Guardian Property Management today.
To schedule a consultation, email us at
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