Tenant expectations: reporting problems
January 1, 2011
The tenant has a duty to tell the landlord of any condition or situation that could affect the habitability of the property or create a liability. His fault or not, he is supposed to call you and tell you about problems. The duty to inform is part and parcel of the duty to prevent waste, a duty we will discuss at some other time.
This duty is extremely important to the well-being of your property, since usually landlords are not on site all the time to see problems as they come up. Further, you don’t have ready access to the interior of the units because the tenant has the right of quiet enjoyment, which means that you have no right to enter the rental unit without proper notice.
It actually behooves the tenant to tell you about problems, because if he doesn’t, and they become serious, you could hold him responsible and deduct the damage from his security deposit.
Before you take such a drastic step, though, do a little preliminary work.
First, before the tenant moves in, walk through the unit with him and explain that you expect to be notified of problems that would affect the livability or liability of the property. Explain what those might be. You want to know if the roof leaks, if stairs are broken, if handrails are loose, if there is dangerous wiring, if there is a water leak — you know what I mean. These are things that can damage the property or hurt people if not repaired. Of course, you are here to ensure that those repairs are indeed taken care of.
Second, include a clause in your rental agreement explaining the same thing.
Good tenants want a habitable place to live, but many are sometimes hesitant to call you for things that they don’t deem serious enough. There are a couple of reasons for their not thinking a problem serious. One is that these folks have probably never owned their own home and so don’t know what can cause problems. What they consider serious is something that is an inconvenience to them, such as a window that won’t close quite right, or a door that sticks.
Another is that they are afraid that if they call you, you are likely to raise the rent because it costs so much to keep the place up. The best way to avoid that problem is to raise the rent regularly. Then they’ll call you.
About the Author: Bob Cain
Some 30 years ago Bob Cain went to a no-money-down seminar and got the notion that owning rental property would be just the best idea there is for making money. He bought some. Trouble was, what he learned at the seminar didn’t tell him how to make money on his rental property. He went looking for help in the form of a magazine or newsletter about the business. He couldn't find any.
Always ready to jump at a great idea, he decided he could put his speaking and writing skills to work and perform a valuable service for other investors who needed more information about property management. So Bob ferreted out the secrets, tricks and techniques of property management wherever he found them; then he passed them along to other landlords.
For over 25 years now, Bob has been publishing information, giving speeches, putting on seminars and workshops, and consulting for landlords on how to buy, rent and manage property more effectively.