The more effort Landlords put in at the front end pays major dividends at the back end. Never is this truer than when you prepare your property for rent.
An unfortunate but necessary element of rental property ownership is the maintenance expense. Expenses are unwelcome at anytime, but none more so than when the property is vacant and you are not collecting rent.
At Gulf Coast, every time we bring a new vacant property under management or one of our properties becomes vacant our leasing and maintenance staff will prepare a Rent Ready Proposal (RRP) for the Landlord’s consideration. The aim of the RRP is to prepare the property to meet compliance and market rent conditions. Landlords can choose to accept our proposal and we will perform the work. Or they can use the RRP as a template and do the work themselves. The items we include on rent our RRP consist of cosmetic and/or maintenance items.
Cosmetic
It is our intention to secure a qualified tenant paying the highest market rent within the shortest period of time. To improve our chances of achieving this goal we recommend our Landlords spend the extra money to make their property the ‘stand out in the field’. Saving money on the front end is often a false economy. The extra time required to rent the property at an inferior rental rate often costs significantly more than the initial RRP.
Fast forwarding to the eventual Move-Out, delivering a property in amazing condition makes it far easier determine how much of the security deposit to retain. It essentially removes any grey areas.
Maintenance
Whenever a property is vacated we will change the locks and reprogram the garage door. This action is for the protection of the property and safety of any future Tenants. Florida Statute § 83.51(2)(a) specifically requires a landlord to make reasonable provision for locks and keys. A Landlord’s violation of the act is at least evidence of negligence. Bennett v. Mattison, 382 So.2d 873 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980). Just imagine the devastating consequences of a former Tenant returning to the property, gaining access using old keys and stealing from or assaulting the new Tenant.
The RRP will also include clearing all drains, including toilets, sinks, showers and tubs. Therefore, if a new Tenant reports blocked drains we are able to absolve Landlords from expensive call out charges as we can demonstrate the drains were clear when the new Tenant took occupancy. Any charges incurred as a result will be applied to the Tenant’s Ledger instead.
In summary, everything we do is designed to increase a Landlord’s ROI. There may be a small investment up front but the dividends are definitely worth it.
If you would like help on how to prepare your property please call or email us today.
.png)