So you’re losing the excellent tenants’ you qualified and placed a few years ago; now what? Of course, you know what to do, get the property re rented of course….and asap!!
Wait is it really that easy?
It should be.
Let’s review the scenario. Your tenant followed the lease and provided proper notice to vacate. They sent you a certified letter giving you their full sixty days’ notice to vacate.
So what does your lease state about your tenants making the home available to show during the last sixty days of the lease? What does the state statute dictate about the tenants’ obligation to make the home available to the landlord to show the property? Does the state statute trump your lease or vice versa?
Further; how are you going to show the property? Do you have a key to enter? What if the tenants have changed the locks? Are the tenants going to be present while you’re showing the property? What is the condition of the property? Does it show well? What happens when a potential tenant sees your yard sign and goes right up to the door and asks your tenant to the see the property? The questions you can ask yourself are endless.
If you prepared properly for this day, everything should go smoothly. So how ‘should’ you of prepared?
First off, your lease should have been very clear that during the last sixty days of the lease your tenants will fully cooperate with showing the property and if they do not, they will be putting the return of their security deposit in jeopardy. Also, you should have been conducting regular inspections to know how your tenants live, how neat they are and the pride they take in their home. You should have been keeping up with any and all maintenance to ensure that your property has been well maintained. Ideally you should have a professional relationship with your tenant so that you can arrange to ‘show’ the property to several potential applicants during a window of time when the tenants are not home so there is zero chance that your tenants say something potentially negative; about the neighbors, the local schools, the pet next door, etc.
So when your tenants provide their valid notice to vacate, get the property re marketed, talk to your tenants about showing the property at a pre-scheduled time with as many pre-qualified tenants as you can, and hopefully you’ll walk away with another strong applicant wanting to rent your property when your current tenant vacates.
If you don’t want to have to deal with this type of transition, remember we’re here as your Property Management Professionals, and can help you by handling this transition from beginning to end. Contact us to discuss your options!
Click Here for Part 14 in this series – Taking the fear out of renting your property