Rental Homes and Expectations
As property managers we realize and recognize that we walk a fine line between respecting a tenants ‘home’ and right to quiet enjoyment along with our duty to protect our clients property. One common misconception among new landlords is that the house and property is still their home. It really isn’t; the house is their property but the home belongs to the tenant.
Every four to six weeks we conduct an exterior inspection the properties that we manage and twice yearly we walk through the properties we manage. Often what we see on the outside triggers action on our part. If we see trash cans that have been left at the curb we notify the tenants to bring them in. If we see items stored on porches, decking or in yards we notify our tenants and demand compliance. If we see vehicles lacking tags and plates we notify and demand compliance. These routine pop by visits also help us keep a handle on who is living in our properties and if they are abiding by our policies and procedures. We keep an eye out for pets and the tell tail signs that pets leave.
Kitty cats and dogs will often give up a non-compliant owner. Cats sit in windows, dogs bark and leave certain ‘evidence’ that they’ve been in a yard. People will also give them selves away. We do not permit smoking or vaping in any of our properties and often smokers will toss cigarette butts in the yard or on the driveway. All of these actions trigger an inside visit to the home.
Our twice yearly walk through tours in the first and third quarters ensure that the home will be cleaned at least twice a year- hopefully. These face to face meetings with our tenants also allow us to listen to their concerns and voice our concerns to them. It is often during these visits that we remind tenants that air conditioning filters should be changed every thirty days and that gardens and yards should be kept tidy.
Finally, we’ve noticed a very interesting phenomena with respect to tenant behavior just ahead of our walk through visits. We’ve noticed that tenants submit many more repair request through our on line property management portal in the ten days preceding our visit to their home. Something about our visit triggers them to request items that may have slipped off their radar screen. As cumbersome as having additional tasks on our to do list is; the benefit is that small, nagging items can be fixed before they become larger problems and I can live with that.