Are you renting out your home? Or are you moving into a new apartment soon? Whichever side of the deal you are on, it is important to make your home rental-ready, or ensure that the one you are moving into is! Read on to see a great checklist for renting a new place.
Here are some of the essentials to check for when you are renting out a property or will be a renter:
1. Focus on Security
The number one item on the checklist for renting should always be safety. Make sure that the home you are renting is in a secure and safe location. Get a reading on the neighborhood if it is a generally quiet and well-protected area.
After that, you can make sure that the house has the proper security measures in place – all the doors, gates, windows, and fire exits can be properly locked, that there are no holes in the walls, roof, or any other part of the house that any unwanted visitors can enter, and you feel assured that you can sleep soundly at night.
If there are combination locks or other safety features that are in place in the house, make sure to communicate this right away so that there will be no trouble getting inside the house and locking it from the inside.
2. Check Water sources, Water Pressure, and HVAC Capabilities
You will want to make sure that there is a good supply of water in the neighborhood you are moving into, and that the house you are going to reside in will have consistent access to it.
Does the house have a water reserve like a tank that will give it a steady supply of water? Check the water pressure as well and see if this is good enough for you.
This can also be linked to the house’s heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning capabilities – be certain that these are running smoothly enough for your needs. If not, there are experts such as those at Accuserv that can handle these concerns for you and can take care of them altogether, ensuring that everything you need is in its proper place.
3. Be Clear Modification Rules
As the renter, you may want to repaint the walls, put in extra furniture, reinstall some added fixtures, and just generally rearrange the house. As the landlord, of course, there are things that you can allow and things that you can’t.
If your renter decides she wants to hang up a new painting, will you allow the drilling of the holes in the walls to her liking? These are things you should be upfront with from the beginning, and as a renter, make sure you have clearance before doing something that will cause a permanent mark.
4. Understand Restrictions for Pets
You can lay out all the rules you want humans to follow, but when other creatures are included in the picture, things could get complicated. Pets can be outside of controllable factors for you as a landlord – for starters, they have their own smell, fur, and excrement that can be harder to clean up.
It’s a great idea to make this clear to your tenant. Or, if you’re the one renting, be upfront about your pet ownership and check what arrangements could be worked out if there are any restrictions with your landlord.
These are the essentials to put on your checklist for renting before you even start. It’s important to be clear from the start before renting out your property or going into a new one. Be sure that you have all of them covered before signing any contracts and entering into a lease agreement.
