As a landlord, you have a number of responsibilities. Not only is it important to make certain that your investment is protected, but it is also important to ensure your property is safe for inhabitation. One of the best ways to accomplish both goals is with an annual property inspection. While it can be easy to let such matters slide or even forget to conduct an inspection, missing this important responsibility could cause your property value to decline and create problems with your tenants.
You might be surprised to find that while an inspection can take a little time, it can save you time and money in the future. Conducting that all-important inspection to check vital structural items, including windows and pipes, can actually prevent much more expensive repairs in the future.
Simply relying on your tenants to let you know when repairs to the property are needed will typically result in cosmetic repairs being conducted instead of important structural items. Over time, this can result in serious problems that can put the value of your property at risk. Annual inspections not only present the opportunity to protect the value of your property from deterioration but also help you keep your properties in compliance with local codes.
Conducting annual inspections also provides an added incentive to tenants to keep your property in good shape. When a tenant knows that you are actively involved with the property, they will be far more likely to take better care of it. At the same time, they will also know they won’t be able to sneak in an unauthorized pet or even another occupant. Keep in mind that even tenants who pay their rent on time every month could easily devalue your property by several thousand dollars over the duration of their lease. Those kinds of problems can be nipped in the bud with an annual inspection. You might also be surprised to find that conducting annual property inspections has the added bonus of attracting reputable tenants and weeding out undesirable tenants.
Overall, annual inspections can be a good way to avoid disputes with your tenants, as well. When you make a practice of conducting a thorough inspection annually, you should have no problems with tenant concerns regarding defects or issues that are not being addressed. In addition, annual inspections also make it easier to spot problematic tenants much earlier so that issues can be handled before they grow out of control.
An annual inspection is also important to ensure that your tenant is keeping up the property so that they will be able to receive their security deposit when the time does come for them to move out.
If you have a number of properties that will need to be inspected each year, you can make the process easier to manage by using an automatic reminder service. Such a service will make it easier to keep inspections on track and ensure that nothing falls between the cracks.
Posted by Matt Angerer on November 1, 2013 at 7:43am