Recommended Tenant Documents and Procedures for Renting Your Property
When you decide to rent out your own house or invest in an income property with the intention of renting it out to renters, there are specific documentation and processes that are necessary to ensure the safety of both you and your property while tenants are living there.
Renting out your property can be a lucrative financial investment; however, it is imperative that you take the necessary procedures to verify that the arrangement you enter into is legally valid in your state. Before you rent out your investment property, what kinds of documentation do you need, and what kinds of procedures should you carry out?
Rental Application
Regardless of how well you believe you know your potential tenants, you should always have them fill out a rental application and have it on file.
The names of the prospective tenants, their contact information, previous addresses, their current employer, emergency contacts, as well as any necessary release of information, as well as their signatures, should all be included on the rental application. The application should be valid for your state.
With this information, you will be able to better screen potential tenants, allowing you to eliminate vacancies and ensure that your rental property is filled by the appropriate individuals.
The Verification of the Background
It is in everyone’s best interest to conduct a background check on prospective tenants. Background checks are vital since they provide information about the tenant’s criminal history, credit history, and whether or not they have ever been evicted from a previous residence.
If you make it mandatory for prospective renters to provide their social security number on the application for the rental unit, you will be able to conduct this check on them for a fee. You can gain valuable information into the possible tenant’s suitability for renting your property by doing a background check and reviewing their credit history.
Confirmation of Employment
You should check into your tenant’s employment to ensure that they do, in fact, have a job and that their salary is roughly in line with what it should be. For example, the monthly rent payment should never exceed thirty percent of the total income of the prospective tenant(s).
If a renter is applying for a rental apartment that costs $1,200 per month and the tenant’s monthly income is just $2,000, then the tenant should not be considered for the rental unit because it is highly unlikely that they would be able to keep up with the monthly rental payments.
The Contract
If you already have a renter picked out, you need to make sure the lease is signed before they move in. During the course of your agreement, the lease is an essential instrument that serves to protect both you and the renter. It describes in great detail who is responsible for what, the financial duties of each party, and the conditions under which inspections and maintenance are carried out.
Your rental agreement is virtually unenforceable without the lease, and you will not be able to defend this arrangement in a court of law if you do not have the lease. Additionally, the lease should include contact information for both parties, as well as guidelines for how they should communicate with one another.
The rent for the first month.
It is important that you collect the first month’s rent in addition to the security deposit before your tenants move in. The amount that must be collected is outlined in the lease agreement. This makes the tenant’s occupation more permanent and gives them the opportunity to create terms for moving in under your supervision.
Never under any circumstances should you ever permit a tenant to move in without first collecting these necessary payments. In the lease, both the amount of the rent and the security deposit, as well as the dates on which these payments are due, should be indicated.
Checklist for Moving In
You should go over a move-in checklist with your tenant before they move into the apartment. This should take place at the unit. This checklist has to cover each and every item in the unit (pictures can be helpful in this regard), and it needs to take note of any damage that is already present on the objects.
This agreement serves to protect both you and your tenants in the event that your tenants attempt to claim that the damage was already present when they moved in. It is recommended that the move-in checklist be completed in the presence of the renters. Furthermore, the paper should be signed by both parties, and it should be kept in the tenant’s file alongside any images you may have.
Are You Thinking About Leasing Out Your Property?
Woods Property Management is able to take care of all of these responsibilities on your behalf if you are considering renting out your property in the DC Metro area. Our expertise in tenant screening, in addition to making rental units ready for occupancy, helps to streamline the process of moving in, which in turn allows you to begin receiving money sooner than if you were to undertake this process yourself.