There is a great deal to learn about the Los Angeles real estate investment business. Because tenant protection laws are constantly evolving, coupled with the lack of affordable housing and increase in the unhoused, local government is keen on keeping people housed. While everything can look great about your Los Angeles investment property on paper, dealing with people– your renters– is not so cut and dried as working with numbers. Whatever you do, invest the time to learn how to properly screen a tenant. Do not skip any step in screening tenants, especially running credit a credit check, checking references, and contacting previous landlords. Even with the most up-to-date and thorough screening processes, Los Angeles landlords can expect even the best tenants to cause some damage to the rental property.
Tenants are the life bread of your business plan, and you must understand what kind of trouble you may face if you lack previous property management and don’t have strong people skills. By taking the time to understand the consequences, you will know where to focus your time and energy, and resources to avert damage to your Los Angeles real estate investments before it ever occurs. Read on to discover what to do if your tenants cause damage to your Los Angeles rental property.
Cause
The first thing you need to do if your tenants cause damage to your Los Angeles rental property is to carefully examine the rental unit to determine the cause of the damage. Unfortunately, accidents happen; even the best of tenants may cause unforeseen damage that goes beyond the normal wear and tear that is a part of the expense of owning rental properties. Other damages can occur when tenants fail to maintain their housing correctly. While dealing with repairs is a necessary part of rental property management, landlords could prevent damage from angry tenants for tenants.
Communication
Be available and maintain open lines of communication with your tenant. Damage to your Los Angeles rental property can be on purpose, on accident, due to gross negligence, or evolve from a very small issue that went unreported. By letting tenants know that reporting property issues doesn’t make them bad tenants, you’ll be able to address property quickly to avoid it spiraling out of control and becoming very costly to you.
Tenant Responsibility
Once your tenants cause damage to your Los Angeles rental property and you have determined the cause, you will need to take steps to ensure the tenant pays the repair expenses they are responsible for following the terms outlined in the rental agreement. Often landlords deduct the total costs for such damages from security deposits at the end of the lease agreement. If the damage is extreme, you may need to take legal action against the tenants. Should your attorney or insurance company request the information, you will require photographic evidence and documentation of the damage and keep any estimates and receipts from the repairs.
If the damage caused by the tenant is excessive beyond wear and tear and the tenant will not pay for the damages, you may want to seek legal counsel and determine if there’s just case to evict the tenant and recoup some of your losses.
Landlord Responsibility
If your tenants continually cause damage to your Los Angeles rental property, you should examine your property management skills and responsibility in maintaining tenant communications. For example, tenants may learn that you simply do not respond to their calls, causing minor problems to become significant damage. Middle-of-the-night phone calls and disputes over parking spaces can become irksome, but these little things matter more than you may realize. Building solid relationships with tenants can help avoid issues with deliberate damage and help maintain the integrity of your property.
Avoid Small Repair Needs Going Unreported
As a Los Angeles landlord, develop a good rapport with your tenants and encourage them to report anything that needs repair, even if it seems minor. You can set the expectation that if you deem the issue as one that is minor minor, you will fixed it after major property issues are addressed. Let them know that reporting issues like leaky plumbing backed up toilets, or a leaky roof or window does not make them financially responsible for fixing it.
In addition, it is good practice for Los Angeles landlords to perform inspections every 3 to 6 to spot small things that could become big problems. One way to set the expectation and gain access with your tenant is to spell it out in the lease agreement. For example, minor ceiling leaks, plumbing leaks, or issues with rats can quickly escalate to expensive problems in a matter of just days. Performing regularly scheduled inspections will help you the landlord avert damage to your rental property that would spoil the tenant relationships and save you from avoidable expensive home repairs.
Fair Sale Homes
Working with Fair Sale Homes makes it easier to be a landlord. Before your tenants cause damage to your Los Angeles rental property, why not let the pros at Fair Sale Homes help you with your property management game? Fair Sale Homes 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 Los Angeles, Fair Sale Homes can help you build your investment and property management skills; Fair Sale Homes makes it easy to be a successful landlord in Los Angeles! Fair Sale Homes has a full-service team of the most highly regarded experts from every walk of the real estate industry. Fair Sale Homes can do it all or work with you to help you manage your properties. Let Fair Sale Homes help you keep your tenants happy and reduce your turnovers and repair expenses. Contact Fair Sale Homes at (626) 863-7006.