All too often, tenants postpone their plans to relocate, avoiding doing so in the harsh months of winter here in Milwaukee. As we move into the warmer months of spring and summer, though, many tenants will be looking for new apartments. In anticipation of this period of potentially higher turnover, now is a great time for landlords and tenants to familiarize themselves with standard lease documents. This will serve to educate both parties, leading to happier residencies for everyone involved.
At Plennes Property Management, we believe that communication is critical during the leasing process. Open and honest communication with your tenants will ensure both parties understand their responsibilities under the lease documents. As the landlord, take time to explain the purpose of your lease clauses and supporting documents. Discuss with your new tenant your intentions with the chosen verbiage. This will foster a friendly rapport, mutual understanding, and most importantly, trust. That leads to lower vacancy rates and more money to your bottom line.
The Rental Application
This is the foundation of the landlord / tenant relationship. The information provided here allows a landlord to determine a potential tenant’s ability to pay rent reliably and on time. As the landlord, this document allows you to verify employment, income, citizenship status, credit history, and search for past evictions. To ensure that you are not using discriminatory tenant screening practices, be sure to request the same information from every applicant, and never turn away a potential tenant based on their affiliation with any protected class. Always require photographic proof of identification. Do not proceed with verification of any information until the applicant has provided consent to do so via a signed and dated application.
As a tenant, completing a rental application is your opportunity to showcase your employment history, reliability, and credit worthiness. Don’t be afraid to submit a reference letter with your application. Certainly have previous landlord contact information available at the time you are completing an application. This will demonstrate your positive rental history and illustrate that you are a responsive applicant. Most importantly, be truthful when completing the rental application. Even if a landlord fails to verify information prior to your tenancy, inaccuracies discovered later can be grounds for termination of your lease.
The Lease
As the landlord, realize that you bear the burden of financial risk when renting your property to others. Therefore, it is in your own best interest to effectively communicate the purpose of each clause to your new tenant. Rather than plan to withhold portions of the security deposit, or worse yet, proceed in small claims court, discuss your expectations up front. Don’t operate under the assumption that your tenant understands the contractual verbiage as you have presented it. Taking the time to clarify your expectations now will help to prevent hardship in the future.
From the viewpoint of the tenant, understand that the lease is a contract. By signing it, you are agreeing to each and every clause within. Has the landlord incorporated any information in the lease that you did not previously discuss or that you do not understand? If so, this is your opportunity to request clarification or amendments to the verbiage of the lease. Do not take this opportunity lightly. Take your time to ensure that you are in agreement with the document on a line-by-line basis. Of particular note are the lease effective date, duration, monthly rent and due date, length of notices, and whether or not you are responsible for any utility costs. Also, determine whether there are any prohibited activities such as smoking, running a home based business, or owning pets.
The Rules, Regulations, & Non-Standard Rental Provisions
At Plennes Property Management, we encourage landlords to establish and employ a set of rules & regulations. We also advocate for the use of non-standard rental provisions to further detail any outstanding expectations. Again, communication is of the utmost importance. Listing items on a piece of paper might help you in small claims court, but a discussion about those same items beforehand can prevent you from ever having to visit the courthouse. Your rules and regulations document should detail the day-to-day occurrences for a tenant, while the non-standard rental provisions can help to monetize a tenant’s failure to abide by your rules and regulations. Essentially, what is the penalty for each rule infraction? Additionally, non-standard rental provisions can bring clarification to situations not normally encountered.
If you are a tenant reviewing rules & regulations and / or non-standard rental provisions, take time to understand the instances when this document would apply to you. That certainly doesn’t mean you should blindly sign the documents, but that you need to scrutinize and ask questions about each line item. Is there a grace period on the rent? What is the fee for late rent? A friendly discussion of these matters will likely help you to understand the landlord’s own deadlines for bills and, ultimately, his reasoning for late fees. Review the document carefully.
As always, Plennes Property Management, LLC is willing and able to manage this process for you. Entrusting our team to manage your rental properties will give you piece of mind that your investment is performing at its best. We also handle the tough situations, allowing you to get more out of life! Call Tim at 414-899-2223 to schedule a discussion.