Renting a single family house to tenants is different than renting to apartment dwellers.
An apartment complex has multiple people are in the same building. We lease houses mostly, but we also rent some multi-family investment properties and they have to be treated differently. Each rental property has different aspects that the property manager is responsible for. Multi-family rental management includes more items of responsibility than a single family rental tenant. Let us explain how much a tenant of a single family rental property should be taking care of.
The reason most people like to rent a single family house is because of the privacy. The tenant can walk all the way around their own residence and tell others to get off their property. Tenants renting a house want a place that feels like home, not a dorm room. Because of this, much of the responsibilities fall on the tenant to maintain. Most people that don’t like doing things with their hands or are too busy to take care of a house will rent an apartment. The yard care is taken care of, all maintenance is done by the property manager and all they have to do is live their life.
Many, more family oriented people, want the homeowner feel, even if they don’t actually own the house. These tenants want to mow the grass and do little handyman repairs around the house. It makes for a good environment to raise children, entertain friends and just have an area they can call their own.
So what exactly is the responsibility of the tenant when renting a house? To start with, in Warner Robins, Perry, Bonaire and most of Georgia, all utilities are paid by the tenant including electricity and water. Some short terms rental may pay the utilities, but those are mostly vacation type rentals. Yard maintenance is part of the tenant’s responsibilities too. Traditionally, the yard is part of the reason that people are wan
ting to rent a house, so the yard is for them to maintain. Some high end rental properties will include lawn maintenance as part of the rental package to ensure the property stays looking good, but it is not required. Tenants in a house want privacy, so most will be required to perform all preventative maintenance like; changing the air filters, light bulbs, replacing blinds or any other simple items that may get broken by the tenant. Some landlords prefer to do all the maintenance. It will cost more to operate the rental house this way, but they feel it ensures the job gets done. That is mostly for homeowners that manage their own properties. Many house tenants prefer to do the work them self rather than having a handyman come in the house at odd hours to fix and possibly charge to them. Major repairs, like toilet repairs, leaking roof, AC problem or wiring issues will be left for the landlord.
If you need help with your new rental property, contact us and we can help you thru your first or even your tenth investment property.
Good luck,