Maintenance Inspections
Maintenance Inspections
Regular maintenance of rental property can increase its marketability and extend its economic life. The pride of ownership as reflected in the property’s appearance can translate into fewer vacancies and better tenants. For those landlords looking to trade up or dispose of a property, resale value can be directly affected by how well the property was maintained.
Property that is inadequately maintained cannot effectively compete for the attention of new, good tenants. Some landlords use discounted rents to counter the negative effects of poorly maintained property. However, deferred maintenance combined with discounted rents will only keep properties occupied for so long. The landlord may have to accept less qualified tenants to fill the next vacancy or may have problems in rent collection or other lease violations. An applicant or tenant may perceive that if the landlord is lax about taking care of the property, the landlord may likewise be lax about enforcing other rental policies. The new tenancy may be short-lived, lasting as long as it takes for eviction action.
Failing to take care of maintenance and repairs is a costly mistake. If the property is not kept in good repair, the tenant may have the right to withhold rent, sue for any injuries caused by defective conditions, or move out without notice.
In almost all states, a landlord is required to provide housing that meets basic structural, health, and safety standards. Under the legal doctrine of implied warranty of habitability, landlords are responsible to maintain and repair the rental property throughout the tenancy term. The basis for the implied warranty comes from either local building codes which specify minimum requirements for essential services or widely held common-law beliefs of what constitutes decent housing. The source of the warranty determines the landlord’s responsibilities and the legal remedies available to the tenant. Since some states have more stringent requirements than others, it is important for a landlord to know the specific standards under his state’s law and to use those standards as a minimum standard for his properties in order to fulfill his legal responsibilities and protect his financial interests.
Depending upon the type and age of the property, the condition of the property at the time of the last tenant move-in, the landlord may want to schedule periodic, detailed inspections of the property. Some landlords schedule these inspections to coincide with seasonal maintenance tasks such as changing batteries in smoke detectors or changing furnace/AC filters.
Periodic inspections will allow the landlord to inspect the property for a variety of maintenance issues, including those that may not be reported by the tenant but would be costly for the landlord if not taken care of. Inspection items usually include plumbing (leaky under-sink turn-off valves in particular), furnace and air conditioning problems, cracks in window panes, roof or gutter repair and housekeeping items that need attention to maintain health and safety conditions, such as trash and garbage accumulating on the property.
It is a good idea to include clauses in the lease agreement regarding maintenance and inspections. The clause regarding maintenance should include a list of the tenant’s responsibilities, including the duty to report problems requiring landlord action. The clause regarding inspections should state that there will be periodic inspections by the landlord or by his/her agent, the approximate frequency of inspections, and the manner (method of communication and amount of advance notice) in which the landlord will schedule a proposed inspection date.
The importance of regularly scheduled inspections is emphasized by including such language in the lease agreement and statement of rental policies. This helps to reinforce the tenant’s responsibility to take good care of the rental premises and to promptly report any items needing service. An annual safety and maintenance inspection is generally considered an acceptable standard, but semi-annual inspections may have more value to help reduce risk and/or contain costs by identifying a problem early on.
The tenant should be made aware that certain annual inspections may be required for compliance with state landlord tenant statutes and/or municipal codes for fire, safety, health, environmental or other reasons and/or local landlord/rental properties registration and license.
Landlord-tenant statutes of most states require specific advance notification to the tenant before a landlord can enter the rental unit to conduct an inspection. There may be different requirements regarding landlord entry in the event of an emergency or other need to access the rental unit. Most tenants will cooperate to schedule a mutually agreeable time for inspection. The benefits of safety and maintenance inspections should ease any concerns by the tenant regarding a brief loss of privacy and quiet enjoyment.
Common sense should come into play when scheduling an inspection. If the landlord schedules an inspection toward the end of the tenant’s rental term, the tenant may already be planning to move out and may not have the same attention to detail or motivation for repair items. An inspection scheduled too soon after move-in may cause the tenant to feel his privacy is violated.
Property conditions can quickly change if landlords fail to routinely inspect units and some deferred maintenance needs can result in serious collateral damage when not attended to early on. While a simple drive-by of the property can quickly determine if there is visible exterior damage or evidence of lease violations such as unauthorized vehicles or parking on the lawn, a more thorough inspection will be needed to assess health or safety hazards and to discover damage or potential for damage to the interior of the rental unit.
When tenants move-out, the condition of the rental unit is documented on the move-out checklist and action taken accordingly if damage has occurred. After cleaning and repair/renovation the rental unit is again offered to tenants. The move-in checklist with the new tenant serves to document the “rent ready” condition of the unit and with the tenant’s signature acknowledges the tenant’s satisfaction with the general condition of the unit. Any items still needing repair or replacement are noted, with agreement to a projected resolution date. Any items noted “as is” serve as acknowledgment to both landlord and tenant that the condition existed prior to the new tenant’s possession of the rental unit. However, “as is” cannot be used for items related to habitability or covered by building codes or other governmental regulation.
The move-in checklist when properly completed is a valuable document that serves as the baseline for the condition of the rental unit throughout the rental term. It is helpful to have the move-in checklist available during the annual inspection. It provides a quick reference as to whether the rental unit remains in satisfactory condition.
Landlords can use the checklist to better manage properties by knowing when repairs were done and when to schedule future routine maintenance. Checklists are another source of documentation to help refute claims of neglect or unsafe conditions in a rental unit. As with all property records, inspection documents should be retained in a permanent file for the appropriate time period as specified by specific legal requirements or by statute of limitation law.
Inspections can result in discovering other problems which might require a violation notice to the tenant, a business decision to not renew the tenant’s lease, or cause for an immediate eviction.
There are numerous ramifications related to inadequate maintenance. If the property is not kept in good repair and the problems are not repaired during a vacancy, new tenants will start out with a bad experience. The fewer defects for a property when a tenant moves in, the less argument the tenant can have when the tenant moves out. Damage to a door or wall found at move-out is obviously the fault of the tenant if the door and wall were in excellent condition at move-in.
Many types of maintenance items that are not taken care of when initially discovered, not only become worse as time passes, but can eventually be the cause of other problems that are substantially more costly to correct.
Without a maintenance plan in place, a landlord has less control over his expenses. Unplanned emergency repairs will almost always be more costly for the landlord and be more stressful for both the landlord and the tenant.
It is important to maintain a detailed up-to-date maintenance log which provides information about every tenant request for service, the results of each inspection in detail, and what was done to correct any issues discovered. Keeping a maintenance log is powerful evidence if a landlord ends up in court or before a housing agency in spite of always attempting to provide safe and sanitary housing
In summary, the positive benefits of good property maintenance can include better tenants, greater tenant satisfaction, longer tenancies for good tenants, improved landlord-tenant relations, higher rents, less likelihood of complaints to regulatory agencies, and reduced costs for vacancies.