7 Tips To Streamline Rental Property Compliance

One of the best passive incomes you could involve yourself in would be to own a rental property. With this type of business venture, you don’t need to dedicate several hours of the day to earn money. You can sit comfortably in the comforts of your home and wait for the money to come into your bank account monthly. However, this can only be applicable if you’re looking for a long-term tenant, not a place that can accommodate short-term leases.

Apart from renting a property for months or years, some rentals offer their homes for as little as 22 hours. This gives people more options to have a comfortable stay than booking a hotel and saving money. With this, you must implement a rental property management process to keep you on track, avoid double bookings, and organize everything.

Rental Property Compliance Tips

Here are some tips to streamline rental property compliance.

1. Hire A Property Management Service

If you’re managing other establishments aside from your rental property, you might not have enough time on your hands to preside over everything. Hence, hiring professional property management in Toronto or any other city will be logical.

As you hire a property management service, you’ll have someone who can look after your property and handle everything on your behalf. They’ll be running every query and process and allow you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the benefits of what having a rental property has to offer.

2. Do Any Necessary Repairs

Before renting your property, you should first do the necessary repairs and ensure it’s in its best working condition. This way, you can allow your tenants to live comfortably inside your property and free themselves from any discomfort and inconvenience that any damage your home may bring. Moreover, if your house isn’t safe, sanitary, and functional to move in, you might be violating a law, which could lead to other problems.

Typically, your entire property should undergo inspection to see which areas need repairs and replacements. Focus on any electrical, gas, and plumbing issues and the possibilities of termites. The sooner you can resolve those issues, the faster it will be for you to rent out your property.

3. Set Your Price

To allow yourself to earn from your rental property, you should set the place at the right price. While it might be tempting to increase your rates to improve your profits, you might not be able to attract tenants who’ll be interested in renting your property. With few interested tenants, you might be unable to hit your monthly quota.

You can base your price on location, property size, features, furnishings, and initial cost. You can set how long you’d like to receive your return on investment by computing the property’s total price and dividing it by months of availability. You can also look at nearby rental prices, see if you’ll have tough competition, and adjust your rate accordingly.

4. Screen Your Tenants

Screening your tenants is one of the first things you should do before allowing them to occupy your property as they can do pretty much anything they want without your supervision. As you screen your tenants, you can have a brief background of their criminal history and see if there’s something that would pose as a red flag.

Failing to screen your tenants might result in further problems, especially if they’ve bought issues with your property, like trading in illegal business and neglecting property maintenance. You might be surprised to see your rental back with plenty of damages right after they leave.

5. Draw Up A Contract

When renting your property, you should always draw up a contract to set rules and regulations for what’s allowed and not inside your property. With a contract, you’ll have a legal basis to depend on should they violate something in your agreement. As soon as your tenant signs your contract, have it notarized so it can have legally binding.

When drawing up your contract, ensure you become as specific as possible, especially the duration of stay. For a safer option, it’s best to hire a lawyer to help you draw up the contract to avoid any possible complications in the future.

6. Maintain Your Property Well

Whether you’re renting your property long or short term, always maintain it well to avoid any possible complications and damage that might develop over years of usage. For your short-term rental, you should check the property after every checkout to ensure that the renters have not caused any damage to your property. Likewise, take care of any issues and resolve them before your new tenant comes in.

For your long-term rental, you might want to consider yearly scheduling maintenance on their behalf so you can guarantee its condition for as long as possible. This can also help motivate your tenants to be gentle with your property to minimize potential repairs and replacements. However, you shouldn’t shoulder any damage caused by your tenants but only those most likely to happen due to usage.

7. Decide On Payment Terms

Decide how you’d like your payment terms to be. For your long-term rental, you can set a weekly or monthly payment term, which they can pay through cash, check, or bank transfer.

For your short-term rental, a payment first policy is advisable to prevent any possible complications. Additionally, asking for a security deposit is also helpful so you can deduct the cost if there’s any damage you need to address due to their usage. Furthermore, include the payment terms in your contract so you’ll grasp when and how they should pay.

Takeaway

Rental property compliance includes ensuring everything in your property is safe and secure. This will help avoid legal problems and allow everyone to live comfortably inside your property. You can begin by doing necessary repairs, screening your tenants, drawing up a contract, and even hiring a property management service to smoothen the process. While there might be plenty of initial things you must do, the benefits of a rental property to your pockets would be worth everything.