How to Insure Tenants Look after Your Rental Property

The most troublesome aspect of being a landlord is tenants who damage your property.  From deterioration and gradual trashing to total destruction, tenants can cause a tremendous amount of damage and stress to your property. There are plenty of horror stories around about what tenants can to a rental.

And, if you think finding a good tenant depends on luck - you couldn’t be more wrong, or else why don’t you work to ensure luck favors you? In order to do so, this means taking the following measures to reduce risk that will insure tenants look after rental property.

1.  Adopt Tenant Screening, which is the magic mantra of all successful, savvy landlords. How many landlords can confirm they carry out a complete tenant screening exercise, when looking for prospective tenants? Not many if gauged from the horror stories that float around about property damage! To get a good tenant, a landlord must be thoroughly professional about the entire tenant screening process, and verifying past landlord references is an essential part of every standard screening process. Call them and question them about prospective tenants. Many property management companies offer tenant screening as a part of their fee, but if you would like to do your own tenant screening for relatively low cost, give me a call and I will share with you more information on how I do it for my rentals.
2. As an important part of the screening process, visit or at the very least, drive by the property the tenant intends to vacate, in order to assess its physical condition. The odds are your prospective tenant will treat your property in the same manner he / she treats their current rental home.  I have also heard others even assessing the care of their vehicle as an alternative (or in addition to) – even going so far as asking them to show them the inside. I believe this is another great way to insure tenants will look after your rental property with due care.
3. Photograph or videotape the move-in condition of the property, (as in before and after advertisements), in the presence of the tenant after he / she has finished signing the lease. This evidence will ensure tenants look after your property as if it were their own. After all, if taken to court, the before and after evidence ensures law is on your side, no matter what argument the defendant might put up.
4. Before handing over your property prepare a complete Property Condition Report documenting the state of your property. Go over it with the tenant and once he / she has signed the inventory and condition checklist, he / she is on record, and you have another legal document, in addition to the lease.
5. Before handing over possession, take a substantial sum as security deposit including the first month’s rent. With so much at stake, the tenant will ensure he / she looks after your property well. Remember, the security deposit cannot be great than one and half times the rent, but asking for at least the first month’s and even the last month’s rent is a good idea.

As long as you follow the above steps, you will be able to insure tenants look after your rental property. If you need assistance in finding a reputable property management company in the greater-Phoenix metropolitan area, please let me know and I can give you a referral.  If you have any questions about property management or investing in residential rental real estate, please give me call today!