Renting a house is one of the first big steps that every young man or woman has to take on his or her path to an independent life. Now, obviously, thousands of young people do it every year. Some do it when they move to college. Others do it because their earnings allow them to break away. Families sometimes keep on renting a home rather buying their own. Some do it because they move a lot and like the ability to wake up one day and leave. Others simply cannot afford to buy a house. Their only remaining option is to rent. So, if you are the landlord, what should you do before renting your house? We are going to try to bring this matter a bit closer to you.
The top five things to know before renting your home
We would like you to be prepared before you commit to a long-term lease that you may end up not liking. So, bear with us and follow the pieces of advice below. You can always do better as a landlord. Here are the top 5 things to do before renting your apartment:
- Repair any damage in the apartment.
- Repaint the walls.
- Clean the apartment.
- Replace anything that needs replacing.
- Change the locks.
Repairing the damage is one of the things that you need to do before renting your house
Damage repair is a basic thing to do before renting your house. There are various reasons for it, after all.
Firstly, a tenant will want to move into a functional and working apartment. Bathroom remodeling should be in your focus. No one wants a house with a bathroom in a very bad state.
Secondly, how would you be able to determine whether the tenant broke something or it had been broken before? Furthermore, you will ask your tenant for a deposit. How do you think that will go down if the apartment is not in working order? Not the best idea, right?
Lastly, put yourself in the position of a tenant: would you choose to move into an apartment that has suffered obvious, and still visible, damage? Even if you would, it would probably require a serious rent decrease in order for you to accept it. Easy fix – redecorate. Just a little bit. And on a budget.
Therefore, make sure to repair any damage in the house before renting it out.
Repaint the walls
Okay, this one can go either way. Either you will repaint the house yourself or the tenant will. There is a good practice among tenants and landlords. The unwritten rule says that a tenant is not required to repaint the apartment after leaving it only in the case that he or she did it when they leased it. If it was you who repainted the apartment before the renting, then your tenant is supposed to take care of it before moving out. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
Still, it is not as simple as it seems. The abovementioned rules are good. On the other hand, what happens if the tenant leaves without honoring his part of the deal and your apartment needs remodeling?
This is where the deposit jumps in. You will ask the tenant for a deposit before renting the house. The deposit can be used to cover the unexpected costs. Among others, you may use it to repaint the apartment. Obviously, you should be careful because sometimes the damage can be costlier than the amount of the deposit. After all, your tenant may as well leave without paying the entire rent. So, be careful about dealing with the repainting of the apartment.
Clean the apartment
We do not know whether you have ever been a renter yourself or not. If you have, then you must have come across apartments looking like an atomic bomb site. Anywhere you look, there is dirt. Your feet stick to the floor. Kitchen and the sink look like a place where you would not like to stand in, let alone eat from.
Therefore, in order to rent your house to decent people, make sure that it looks decent as well.
Replace what needs to be replaced before renting your house
Making sure that the house is functional will allow you to rent it and bring you money. Making your house look good while being functional will bring you profit. Therefore, if you can, make sure there are modern and good-looking amenities, before renting your house. If anything is broken, replace it. Invest now and reap the fruits later.
Take care of the locks before renting your house
Alright, this is the last suggestion that we will give you. In order to make sure that everything remains in order after your last tenant leaves your house, make sure to change the locks.
First of all, you should make sure that no one who is not supposed to can enter your house. On the other hand, your new tenants will be happy knowing that only you and they own a working set of keys. After all, you might even ask them to change the lock themselves and give you a copy if that is what they wish. It is all a matter of agreement.