The real estate investment business has a lot of complexities to navigate. While your investment property might look perfect on paper, managing tenant relationships is far more nuanced than handling numbers. It’s essential not to overlook any steps in the tenant screening process, particularly when it comes to verifying references and reaching out to previous landlords. Despite employing the most modern and comprehensive screening methods, landlords should still anticipate that even the best tenants may cause some level of damage.
Tenants are the lifeblood of your business plan, and it’s crucial to recognize the potential challenges you might encounter if you lack prior property management experience and strong interpersonal skills. By investing time in understanding these potential consequences, you can better allocate your time, energy, and resources to prevent damage to your investments before it happens.
Read on to discover what to do if your tenants cause damage to your Philadelphia rental property.
Cause
The first step when your tenants cause damage to your Philadelphia rental property is to thoroughly inspect the rental unit to identify the cause of the damage. Unfortunately, accidents happen, and even the most reliable tenants may inadvertently cause unexpected damage that exceeds the normal wear and tear associated with rental properties. Additional damage can occur when tenants neglect proper maintenance of their housing. While addressing repairs is an inevitable aspect of rental property management, landlords can often prevent damage by maintaining positive relationships and addressing tenant concerns promptly.
Tenant Responsibility
Once your tenants cause damage to your Philadelphia rental property and you have identified the cause, you must take steps to ensure the tenant covers the repair costs they are responsible for as per the rental agreement. Landlords often deduct these costs from the security deposit at the end of the lease. If the damage is severe, you may need to pursue legal action against the tenants. In such cases, you will need photographic evidence and detailed documentation of the damage, as well as estimates and receipts for the repairs, especially if your attorney or insurance company requests this information.
Landlord Responsibility
If your tenants continually cause damage to your Philadelphia rental property, it’s important to evaluate your property management practices and your effectiveness in maintaining tenant communications. For instance, tenants might cause minor issues to escalate into significant damage if they perceive that you don’t respond to their calls. While middle-of-the-night phone calls and parking space disputes can be bothersome, these seemingly small issues are more important than you might realize. Establishing strong relationships with your tenants can prevent intentional damage and help preserve the integrity of your property.
Philly Home Investor
Working with Philly Home Investor makes it easy to be a landlord. Before your tenants cause damage to your Philadelphia rental property, why not let the pros at Philly Home Investor help you with your property management game? Philly Home Investor knows the laws that protect landlords like you and can help you with your screening process, rental agreements, and every other aspect of managing your investment properties, lowering the overall risks of damage ever happening. From real estate investment and exit strategies to locating the best rental properties in Philadelphia, Philly Home Investor can help you build your skills; Philly Home Investor makes it easy to be a successful landlord! Philly Home Investor has a full-service team of the most highly regarded experts from every walk of the real estate industry.
Philly Home Investor can do it all or work with you to help you manage your properties. Let Philly Home Investor help you keep your tenants happy and reduce your turnovers and repair expenses. Contact Philly Home Investor at (215) 422-3288.