Being a landlord of rental properties in Baltimore, you might have got suggestions for regular property inspections from experts or other investors. It’s essential to inspect a rental property regularly.
Most landlords think there is no requirement of doing so, and even if it’s important doing it two times a year is enough. Or, some inspect only when their tenants complain about something. Well, you can follow this rule if you are an extremely busy person or handling two or more properties simultaneously. But neglecting to inspect your property has many consequences. You can never know what actually your rental home is going through. What’s happening there. How tenants are treating your property, etc.
Real estate experts and experienced investors always say to inspect rental properties. And following are the reasons for this.
Reasons to Inspect Rental Property When Occupied
Check on a lease violation
When homeowners are unable to take care of their property they keep renters. Some do this purposely to make money. But it’s not necessary the tenants will be taking care of the property as you. Hence, it’s important to inspect the property.
When they will sign the rental agreement, it’s your duty to mention all the rules and regulations that you want the occupants to follow. And also write the consequences of violating the rules. Inform them you can come anytime to inspect your property. When you will do so, you can see whether they are following the rules are not.
Are any other occupants are living illegally? Are they living with a pet even when pets entry is prohibited on your property? This will help you to take strict actions for violating lease terms.
Check whether you are meeting tenant’s needs or not
Being a landlord, you have some obligations. When your renters are living in your rental unit then it’s your responsibility to provide them with the necessities. Ensure the house is in good habitable condition, all the appliances are working properly, nothing is damaged, the tenants are not getting involved in any disputes with neighbors or fellow tenants.
You also need to check that your property is clean and safe for the residents. Do regular inspections to find any issues that can cause big problems in the future. Property inspections give you the opportunity to find problems today and get them resolved before getting worse in the future. It will cost less if addressed sooner.
Inspection allows you to check on all these things and help you provide a good and habitable property to the tenants to live in.
Prevent serious problems down the line
It’s quite common to face normal wear and tear in a rental property. But some problems can turn into severe and costly repair issues in the future if remain unaddressed. It’s not necessary your tenants will inform you about every problem. They will only notify the problems that are disturbing their daily activities. Being a landlord or the property manager, it’s your responsibility to check such issues. And by doing property inspection you can check on some problems that have the chance to get worse with time.
Even if you haven’t noticed any damage issues during the last inspection, there are chances that the weather has caused minor damage, which can grow to be a huge problem. With regular property inspection, you can catch these problems before they become serious. You can save a lot of money.
Know tenant’s behavior
With regular property inspection, one can check tenants’ behavior. If they are doing any illegal activities on the premises, disturbing other occupants, etc. you can know it all. Also, if they are involved in some criminal activities or drugs, by inspecting you can get all the clues.
Now, when you know why a regular inspection is so much important you should know when and how you should inspect your Baltimore rental homes.
Read: pros and cons of hiring property manager
When Should You Perform a Property Inspection?
Usually, a property management company perform property inspection four times: –
- Move-in inspection
- Move-out inspection
- Routine inspection
- Drive-by inspection
While entering the property, your tenants will inspect. This way you can show them that you want the property in the same condition when moving out.
Move-out inspection is performed to check the damages that occurred during the occupancy of the tenants. You can also deduct the repair cost from their security deposit.
These are about move-in and move-out inspection, but when you do routine inspection then there are certain dos and don’ts that you must take care of.
- Give prior notice to your tenants.
- Ask them to stay at home when you will visit for an inspection.
- Let them know why this inspection is important and why they should be at home during the time.
- Do not photograph personal items
- Do not get involved in any dispute with occupants.
Conclusion
The main reason for regular property inspection is to protect yourself and your valuable assets. Not only you can manage your rentals in good condition with this but also run your business successfully. Also, this helps you to retain all or some of the tenants’ security deposits to pay for repair bills.
Owning rental management business is not easy. If you think it’s not easy for you also then hire a reliable and professional property management company in Baltimore. They will help you manage and run your business successfully.