Four Responsibilities You Have As A Landlord

When you own property and become a landlord, there are more responsibilities that you have. These are things you wouldn’t typically have for your own home. It’s important that you’re aware of these responsibilities so that you can do everything correctly by the book. That way you’ll experience as few problems as possible and have happy tenants too. Here are four responsibilities you have as a landlord.

Structural Damage & External Problems

Whenever any interior damage is caused by the tenant, it’s something that you’d be able to charge for. It’s also something that wasn’t there prior to them moving in. That might be immediately taken to pay for the fixes. Or it could be taken out of their deposit when they come to move out.

However, any problems to do with the structure of the property like cleaning sewage, needs to be sorted by yourself. This is because it’s not something that the tenant is particularly responsible for doing. It’s something that can also affect the value of your property if it isn’t sorted quickly.

You may also face difficulty in holding onto your tenants and securing new ones if there’s obvious structural damage. In order to look after your investment, try to stay on top of fixing these issues as best as you can.

Communicating With Tenants

Communication with tenants is essential. Whenever there are issues, they need to be sorted quickly. The reason for this is that you want to keep your tenants happy. Not only that, but it’s expected as a landlord to be available when needed. The problems you may face could happen in the middle of the night. Perhaps the lock on the front door has broken, or there’s water leaking from the ceiling.

Be active in your communications, whether it be via email for non-emergencies or phone for emergencies. Acknowledge that this is part and parcel of being a landlord and managing it yourself.

Addressing Any Health & Safety Issues

Health and safety issues are critical. You don’t want to land yourself in hot water for not sorting it sooner. When these health and safety problems are highlighted, do everything you can to fix them quickly. You should be active in assessing the property’s safety on a regular basis. Getting maintenance done and having regular checks is a must.

Resolving Tenant Conflicts – Eviction

Tenant conflicts are likely to happen, especially if people don’t know each other. If you have strangers living together, you may need to step in at some points. Whether it’s someone not paying the right amount of causing trouble. If this is happening, you can always seek legal advice. This can help in knowing how to take the right steps next. If eviction is necessary, then you want to do it properly and professionally.

Being a landlord isn’t easy and it takes a lot of work. Handing over the management might be of interest but remember you pay out more. Having an awareness of all the responsibilities will certainly make it easier for you to manage.

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