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5 Things to Replace Before Renting Your Home

These quick repairs can make a big difference in your home’s success on the market and during tenancy.

When you’re about to rent your property out (particularly for the first time), it can be easy to overlook the minor repairs and touch-ups needed in the home. People often focus on large repairs and renovations when they’re preparing to rent. However, it’s important to replace the little things in the property as well. These items are easy to forget about but are vital to the property’s success.

Smoke & CO Detectors

Perhaps one of the most important things in the home, the smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors should be functioning properly. Change batteries when needed and replace the entire unit roughly every 10 years for smoke detectors and 5-7 years for CO detectors. In California, a law was put into place that states that when one of these detectors dies, it must be replaced with a new unit that uses long term lithium-ion batteries. The batteries last for roughly 10 years. These are typically preferred by owners and tenants because you don’t have to repeatedly go back to change the batteries.

Locks

Whether you’re renting the home for the first time or simply getting new tenants, you should always replace the locks on all major doors. This includes front doors and back doors, if applicable. The reason for this is because you don’t know how many copies of the original keys were made. Even if you request all keys to be returned at move out, they may have lent one to a friend or family member and forgotten about it. Changing the locks prevents anyone who previously had access from getting in again.

HVAC Filters

These filters should always been switched out prior to new tenants moving in. These should typically be replaced every 3-6 months, more often if the home has pets. Make sure to stay on top of this, even when tenants are in place, as to not damage the HVAC unit. Failing to replace the filters in a timely manner can result in long-term damage and higher electric bills.

Light Fixtures

Keep track of when you replace the light bulbs in the home. The last thing you want is a new tenant moving in and a month later, multiple light bulbs go out. Typically landlords and property management companies leave the responsibility of light fixtures to their tenants, so why not make sure they’re set up when they move in to make it easier on them? The property shows better to prospective tenants like this as well.

Keep a Garbage Disposal Wrench in the Home

A common maintenance call we get from tenants is a jammed garbage disposal. What most people don’t know is that garbage disposals come with a small wrench to fix it when it gets jammed. These small wrenches are typically lost or the previous tenant takes it with them when they move out.

By always having one of these in the home, you’ll save yourself a lot of time by not having to go out to the home every time the disposal jams. At Good Life, we send a short YouTube video to the tenants showing them how to resolve their problem with the wrench.

In conclusion...

We hope this list reminded you of some things to replace before re-renting your home. For clarification on which repairs are your responsibility during the tenancy, check out our blog Rental Property Repairs: Owner vs. Tenant Responsibility.

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Olivia

Content Marketing Manager at Good Life Property Management

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Hey there landlords, Dave with Good Life Property Management. Today I want to talk about five things that are often overlooked by landlords before a tenant moves in. These five things will help save you money, protect the tenant, and reduce your liability. So stay tuned. Alright guys, number one, y’all know what this is, right? Smoke alarms. So here in California a couple of years ago they passed a new legislation that landlords are required to maintain and provide these smoke alarms, as well as the types that are now installed at houses. The new thing now is these 10-year smoke alarms that have a non-replaceable maintenance free 10-year lithium ion battery. The good news about that is a little bit more money than they used to be, but it’s something you won’t ever have to send someone out to replace the batteries for. When applicable, and if you have gas burden appliances or attached garage, you also need to have a carbon monoxide detector. Getting that a combo one that’s both a smoke and a carbon monoxide detector will save you a little bit of money too. Alright guys, number two, re-key the house. Very important to protect yourself from potential liability. Always have the house re-keyed before tenants to move in. We always like to do this right before a tenant moves in after the lease is signed and after all the work has been done. That means after all the contractors, cleaners, all the show needs have been in there because you know who made a copy of the key. Haven’t it done right before the tenant moves in? Guarantees and you know exactly who’s got a copy of the key. Same thing goes for alarm codes and garage drawer openers. You want to go ahead and reset those as well. A lot of properties now have those electronic dead bowls. So we’ll open up the backside and reset the master code on that as well. Alright guys, number three, furnace filters. Obviously hopefully the not as bad as this one here. But this is often overlooked both by landlords and by tenants as basic home maintenance. Very often we get a lot of surface of calls related to these being clogged. It could have it on the furnace and the whole recognition system as well as increased electrical usage. The place one these before a tenant moves in and require them to keep up with it. We’re on a place that every three to six months depending on usage with the clean one. We’ll save you both a lot of time and ahead it. Alright guys, number four is light bulbs. Sounds pretty simple. I know you want to make sure that all the bulbs in the house are working. That’s going to make the place show better perspective tenants and also leave you as stressed when they move in to play into the lights on working. Most leases that we do put that the tenants are responsible for changing these during the tenancy. We always make sure that all the ones are working before they move in. Also very important, don’t forget to have all the exterior light bulbs changed when working as well. I don’t forget that one of the garage are open. Alright guys, as promised, I’m going to tell you what this is here. This is garbage disposal wrench. Very important just about every garbage disposal does come with this. A lot of people lose it, throw it away or take it with them when they move. What you want to do is leave this at the property of the tenants every jammed disposal which happens more often than you would believe. We like to do a set them a little YouTube video and show them how to undo it which requires this tool right here. This will save you countless hours, end time and money sending a plumber out there to do something very simple. Thus it tends to be a little more self-serving. If you like today’s content, go ahead and hit the subscribe button. Be sure to like the video as well and stay tuned for more from the world of good life. you