E-Renter News

Has a tenant ever left your property without notice? When a tenant abandons a rental unit, how soon can you re-list the property and lease it to a new tenant? What are the landlord's rights? What are the tenant’s rights? Here are some answers to those questions and tips for handling tenant abandonment of property:

You should be aware of your state’s legal definition of abandonment, which varies widely among the states. Don’t change the locks or take possession of anything your tenant left behind until you’ve checked on this.

It’s okay to ask neighbors if they have seen any moving activity at the property, or if they’ve seen the tenant lately.

If you suspect or neighbors think the tenant has moved, it’s okay to enter the property. But do ring the doorbell and knock loudly—just in case your tenant is still inside. Neighbors can be mistaken, after all.

Once inside, you might discover other signs that the tenant has moved out—like no furniture! Or, you may see enough signs of life that you’re still not sure. You never know what’s going on in a tenant’s life—some people need to move fast, taking just their clothes. So, check the bedrooms and closets to see if there are any items left behind. Check the bathroom for signs of recent use. Open the refrigerator to see if there is any food inside—and how old it is.

Take photos of each room in case you need them for evidence. Keep notes of conversations with neighbors, too.

If it looks like your tenant has flown the coop, try contacting him or her. Some states require that you do so. It is a good idea to ask the tenant to sign a statement waiving their rights to possessing the unit.

If your tenant has left property behind, check your local and state laws before you dispose of it. Some states require an inventory to be mailed to the tenant, and a waiting period before disposal.

Follow your state’s guidelines for notification that you intend to repossess the rental property. Once you’ve passed the time limitation, you may proceed with preparing the unit for your next tenant.

The contents of this article are intended for general information purposes only, and should not be relied upon as a substitute for obtaining legal advice applicable to your situation.

Most landlords have felt the frustration of showing a rental unit to a prospective tenant—or several—only to have them walk away with the lease application, never to be seen again.

It could be that your approach is a little too passive. Perhaps you know that your rental is a good one, and that if a tenant is really interested and wants to rent it from you, they will return the application. And that’s a fine way to look at the situation—until the rental unit is vacant for another week, or two, or a month.

Turning vacant rental units around quickly helps cash flow—which helps you stay in the rental property business. Here are a few tips to help your prospective tenants turn in an application faster. Because without an application to start the process with, your vacant rental is going to stay vacant!

First, make sure the application is easy to fill out, plus short and sweet.  Yes, it needs to be thorough and legally binding. But perhaps some of the information is not necessary, or makes applicants feel uncomfortable. Eliminate the unnecessary and concentrate on just the facts you need right away:

• Name/previous names
• All proposed occupants
• Pet name/s, description
• Current address, rental/residence history
• Date of birth, SSN, driver’s license number
• Place of employment, supervisor, work history, monthly gross pay
• References

Second, include a short introduction/disclosure on the application, such as “this is a non-smoking residence” or “pets welcome, subject to approval,” "we require a background screening and credit check," and any other important information the tenant applicant needs to know up front.

Third, encourage interested prospective tenants to fill out the application on the spot. That way, you eliminate the need to wait and wonder if they are truly interested. Chances are, if they walk away with the application, they won’t come back. If they’re not interested, they won’t fill it out and you can concentrate on the next prospect, who might become your next tenant.

Remember, you don’t need to ask applicants for much more information than we’ve listed above. Your background screening and credit check should provide the rest of the information you need to make an informed decision. Keep it simple, and keep it to one page if possible!

Once your applicant is approved, the lease agreement can take care of all the details.

Here’s an easy way to keep up with rents in your area. Rentbits.com is an online rental advertising site, with a few bonus tools that landlords and property managers might find useful.

Rental rates: find out what average rents are in your area, with a quick-view graph that shows trends, as well as current rents. Are things looking up—so you can think about ending that costly promotion you’re running? Or, are things trending downward in your city, which may mean you have to cut rents to stay competitive?

Here’s a graph showing average rental rates in Charlotte, NC, over the past 12 months, for 1BR, 2BR, and 3+BR apartments—but you can search for houses, too. The graph shows that rents are down from a May 2009 high, but are no longer declining. The trend is definitely flattening here.

You can limit your search by number of bedrooms to just track those that compete with your rental units.

Another set of data pops up below each graph, depicting current rental rates with average and median figures. The chart also shows the number of units advertised, by bedroom size. Data is compiled based on over 7,000,000 listings, according to the RentBits website.

Searchers also have the option to choose other cities, within 10 miles of the main entry. Data from small cities are not readily available, but you can obtain a widget to plug into your website, showing average rental rates for any zip code. Another widget offered campares rents in four different zip codes.

These free tools are easy ways to make your website more interactive and to keep you and your potential tenants informed about the market. The more information you have, the better prepared you are to handle changes in the rental housing business!

As more and more landlords and property managers turn to the web for advertising their vacant properties for lease, it’s helpful to know all your options. Here’s one you might not have seen yet: RentShout.com.

Rather than aggregating Craigslist.org,local online classifieds, and other For Rent site ads into a directory, RentShout turns the “funnel” around. When you advertise your rental on RentShout, it “shouts it out” to multiple rental websites and search directories, as well as video and social networking portals.

RentShout even creates optimized videos of your rental properties, using images you upload. The videos are then posted to your listing page, as well as popular video sites that your possible tenants may be on already, like YouTube, vimeo, and viddler.

Whether you own one single family rental house, or manage 25 apartment buildings, you can advertise on RentShout and see your listing on 60+ sites. Users also have access to detailed tracking reports, helping them capture leads and create more effective ads. Every listing has its own url, as well as a unique telephone number (that is forwarded to your designated phone)—so tracking is more effective. The urls also include buttons for one-click sharing to Twitter and Facebook.

For apartment communities, RentShout offers Community Web Pages, which offer complete information on an apartment community, amenities, location, and floor plans. It also allows property managers to advertise individual apartments that are available for rent. Contact forms make it easy to respond to interested potential tenants!

RentShout says every tenant searches the web differently, so having your listings across as many different types of websites and search engines as possible helps maximize your exposure. They may be right. You might want to check out RentShout for yourself!

What do tenants look for when they’re driving around town, searching for rental homes?

A Neat Appearance: Take time to spruce things up on a vacant rental. Pressure-wash the exterior to get rid of dirt. If it needs a coat of paint, do it. Don’t skimp on something that is relatively inexpensive. Trim shrubs, cut the grass, and remove dead tree branches. Put a planter with some inexpensive flowers on the porch for instant appeal

Garages: If you have a garage, say so in your ads. If the garage has some storage cabinets or work benches, even better! This is premium stuff that you can charge extra for.

Newer Appliances: You don’t have to supply brand-new, top-of-the line appliances. But newish appliances that work perfectly just make life easier. Dishwashers are not super-expensive, and tenants love them. If your place comes with a washer and dryer, get ready to sign a lease much quicker!

Cleanliness: Look at your rental with a critical eye. Even if you are not the neatest, cleanest person in the world, your rental property needs to be as clean as possible. Landlords know that all tenants don’t keep things as clean as when they move in. But at least you can start out that way! The sure bet is that dirt and trash will turn off most potential tenants.

Storage: Update standard closets with new shelving systems. You can find these at every home improvement store. Put shelves in the laundry room. Add a few shelves in the storage area or garage. You’ll be surprised at how extra storage can entice new tenants into signing a lease!

RV/Boat Parking: Storage is expensive. If you have sufficient space for an RV or boat at your rental house, you’ve just attracted a whole bunch of potential tenants. IF it’s surrounded by fencing or trees to make the RV or boat invisible to neightbors, they will love you.

Great Location: If your rental unit is not located close to parks, trails, schools, or shopping, can’t do much about it. But when you’re considering buying a rental property, consider how much easier it will be to rent if it has all of those factors going for it!

Some landlords wait for the perfect tenant, while others accept the first breathing body who arrives with a fistful of cash. In the happy medium are the landlords who know the perfect tenant doesn’t exist—but that there are plenty of good tenants out there. Proper marketing of your rental unit can help you find them—but once you have several prospective tenants interested in renting from you, then what?

You can reduce tenant turnover by carefully choosing the most qualified applicant. Just make sure you are evaluating every tenant applicant on the same criteria: like income level, credit history, employment history, and rental history.

Be sure you are complying with the Equal Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, age, color, nationality, family status, gender, and disabled status. Using the exact same criteria to evaluate tenants will help prevent claims of discrimination.

Don’t use a tenant’s appearance as a screening mechanism—instead, use a thorough credit history screening and employment check to weed out unqualified applicants. The size of an applicant’s family, the type of car she drives, or the brand of shoes he wears will not reveal whether he or she will pay the rent on time every month.

Only you, the landlord, can determine your minimum qualifications. Acceptable income level, employment and rental history are as you define them. And a rough economy has inspired plenty of rental property owners to reset their qualifications. Like Sam, who recently signed a lease agreement with a couple who just moved to the city for a job transfer.  “I used to require at least six months on the job, but too many applicants have lost jobs over the past couple of years. If their previous work and rental history is good, I’ll take a chance on them in a new position,” says Sam.

Qualified tenants are still out there. Careful screening can help you sign a lease with the most-qualified tenant, no matter how you set your qualifications.

Beginning April 22, 2010, new rules will apply to the way lead-based paint is handled in the U.S. Landlords are currently required to disclose the possible presence of lead paint in all homes built before 1978, when the addition of lead to paint was banned.

Soon, new regulations will go into effect, stating contractors must be certified to work in homes that contain lead paint. And the regulations will cause dramatic changes in the way contractors deal with paint dust. For one thing, workers will have to wear Tyvek coveralls, respirators, goggles, hoods, and rubber gloves and boots. Plastic sheeting will need to be spread 10 feet out from the site they are working on—for instance, a window they are replacing, and caution tape must be placed around the work site, at a 12-foot radius. Special signs saying, “Lead Poison Hazard: Do Not Enter” must be posted on site.

Why the stringent new rules? (The rules aren’t all that new: the government posted them back in 2008, to give contractors plenty of time to comply.) The EPA reports that about one million children are affected each year by lead poisoning as a result of exposure—mostly to paint or paint dust. That’s thousands of children harmed every day.

Lead is nothing to take lightly. Lead poisoning is extremely dangerous to children. Only about 5% of contractors have taken the necessary classes and become certified. The good news is, only one worker per site needs to be certified, but all must follow the new regulations for protection. Still, nearly 100,000 workers have already been trained to work around lead safely.

The rest need to become certified—especially if they don’t want their business to drop more than it has during the economic downturn. Now that the deadline is looming, classes are filling up fast!

We can all use more easy-to-use free tools, right? Here’s one you may not have heard about: a free, online apartment rent comparison tool from RentJungle.

How easy is it to use RentJungle’s rent comp tool? If you can type in an address, amount of rent you’re charging and the number of bedrooms in your rental, you’ve got it! RentJungle also asks for the quality of building and location, on a 1-5 star scale, and returns a quick analysis, with one of the following answers:

• You may be paying too much for rent. If this building is truly top quality or in the perfect location, that maybe OK.
• Your rent appears to be close to neighborhood averages. You appear to be paying an appropriate amount that is in line with what your neighbors are also paying.
• You appear to be getting a great deal! If this building is lower quality or in a very bad location, that may be not be true.

In our test, $1,075 rent was deemed a “great deal,” compared with apartments of above average quality within 5 miles of the address searched. The analysis also recommends that we consider staying as long as possible—obviously the site is addressing tenants, not landlords.

Other stats returned were:

• An expected rent range of $2,030 to $2,510 per month
• 11% of 3-bedroom renters are paying less than $1,075.
• 5 nearby listings pulled from apartmentsearch.com and craigslist.org appeared on the results page

RentJungle does not reveal the number of units used in its results calculation. It uses a 5-mile radius to pull comparables. Therefore, if your rental property is in a lower-density market, there might not be enough data within 5 miles to supply an analysis.

If you’re looking for a quick way to check your rents against others in the same area, RentJungle is a good test. Obviously, it can’t replace on-site comparisons—the kind you do on your feet, not with a computer mouse—in the neighborhoods where you own rental property.

Not every landlord and property manager is also a marketing whiz kid. Even if marketing is not your strongest skill, you probably recognize the importance of doing it well. Every idea helps, so today we have an easy-to-remember marketing tip for you.

Market by the Numbers

Using numbers in your ads, signs, flyers, and other marketing materials is a great way to help your potential tenants understand your lease offer quickly and clearly.  Here are some examples:

Instead of a yard sign saying “For Rent,” with your phone number, use a headline with some more punch:

3 BR + 2 BA = Room For Everyone.

Call 555-1212 for rental info TODAY!

How many “Now Leasing” banners have you seen hanging on apartment buildings—for months, and months, and months? They are always leasing, and after a while, the sign means nothing—and is noticed less and less.  Try this:

SPECIAL! 1 Month FREE

With 1 Year Lease

“Special” indicates a short-term offer. And, it should be—the idea is to limit the offer to increase interest. Besides, who can offer free rent forever?  If a sign like this stays in place for too long, people stop looking at it.

Next time you’re placing a For Rent ad on Craigslist or in your local paper, put all the numbers in the headline. Craigslist automatically puts the price and number of bedrooms first. So instead of following that information with something dull like this:

$1275/3BR Rambler

Try this:

$1275/3BR 1250 sf, 1 Mo free, 2 Pets OK, 3 Prkng Spcs, 4 min to campus

The second example tells your prospective tenant the numbers they might be looking for: free rent, pets are okay (even 2 pets), it’s close to campus and there is plenty of parking.

Easy-to-remember numbers can help make your marketing efforts a little less tricky—and they could pay off, too. And isn’t that what rental property marketing is supposed to do?

Before signing a lease with a new tenant, landlords are subject to mandatory disclosure—some federal, some state, some local. Because health and safety concers and requirements across the country change constantly, it’s best to check your local laws to make sure you are in compliance with local statutes.

The following disclosures apply to rental property owners no matter where they are:

Lead-based paint

This applies only to properties built before 1978, when lead in paint was banned. Older rental housing may contain paint that was manufactured before then. Lead cannot be detected by looking at the pint; a special test is the only way to verify it. Lead is a serious health hazard, especially to children.

Since lead-based paint is not easy to remove, it is best in most cases to leave it in place; sanding or scraping it can release lead dust. The paint is not hazardous to health until it cracks, peels, or turns to chalk with age.

Because of its danger, the federal Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992 requires rental housing owners or their property managers to notify tenants that the property may have lead-based paint. And, owners must disclose any known presence of lead-based paint and provide tenants with an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) brochure, available online.

The law applies only to properties built before 1978, and exempts housing for the elderly, short-term (100 days or fewer) rentals, studio units, and housing that has been inspected and certified lead-free.

Keep a copy of the disclosure, signed by the tenant, for three years from the date of occupancy. You only need to disclose once, even if the tenant renews his or her lease.

Asbestos

Asbestos insulation, used in buildings until the 1970s, is another serious health hazard. Asbestos particles can cause cancer when released into the air. If a property contains asbestos insulation, or a landlord plans to renovate a property that does, tenants must receive a disclosure. In most cases, specialty firms are hired to deal with asbestos removal.

Megan’s Law

Nearly every state has a version of Megan’s Law, which requires convicted sex offenders to register with local law enforcement. A database of offenders’ whereabouts is then available to the public. Under the federal law, each state can decide how to use and distribute the database information.

Accuracy and upkeep of the database can vary from state to state, as do requirements. Some states require rental property owners to provide a disclosure statement to tenants advising of the Megan's Law database.

Landlords can always refer prospective tenants to local law enforcement if they are interested in searching for sex offenders. Proper tenant screening is one way for landlords to provide a basic protection for all of their tenants, and their property, too. Criminal background and sex offender status on each tenant applicant is essential.