Earning passive income in the form of property investment is enjoyable for many. However, although landlords have a lot of flexibility, there are still many responsibilities to handle. One of these responsibilities is ensuring the property is safe and well-maintained.
Inspecting a property is the best way to ensure that everything is in neat condition. Usually, landlords hire professionals to inspect the real estate and write an official report on the condition of the property. However, some property management companies offer yearly inspection services to their clients. Therefore, many property owners choose to hire professional managers for their rental businesses.
The Purpose of Rental Property Inspection
Professionals divide the essential purposes of rental property inspection into two parts. The first part is to ensure the safety and health of tenants. The second part is protecting property investment. Keeping these crucial factors in mind, landlords conduct various types of inspections.
- Customary inspections to protect the property investment - move-in inspections and move-out inspections.
- Maintenance and safety inspections to ensure the property is safe to live in - annual home inspections, safety inspections, and pest control inspections.
Natural disasters, leakages, fires, and many other specific reasons could cause the landlord to conduct an inspection.
Property laws vary from state to state, therefore, it is advised you look at your local laws before beginning the inspection process. According to the legal system of your region, you might have to notify tenants about the inspections weeks in advance.
Customary inspections
As previously mentioned, customary inspections can be divided into subcategories which are move-in and move-out inspections.
The move-in and move-out inspections are how landlords ensure that the property investment is safe. In this case, inspections are conducted before and after tenants move in. Property managers compare the results of inspections to ensure that nothing has been damaged or broken by the tenants, according to these Los Angeles property managers.
Maintenance and safety inspections
Maintenance and safety inspections might be conducted routinely by the landlord or property management company. Routine inspections are completed yearly, seasonally, or quarterly. The property owner should include the terms of routine maintenance inspections in the lease before both parties sign it. Routine inspections are important to ensure that the property is in perfect condition.
Safety inspections are conducted to make sure that fire alarms, fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, and other crucial safety features are intact.
Although these inspections are crucial and necessary for the safety of both the residents and the property, there are limitations to how often the property owner can inspect the real estate when a tenant lives on the property.
How Often Can a Landlord Inspect the Property?
Landlord is the owner of the property, even if residents have made it their home and have lived there for years. However, a property owner does not have the right to access the property anytime they please. State and local laws set the limit of how many times a landlord has the right to inspect a property.
Therefore the first step you need to take to figure out how many times you can inspect the property, you should review the local laws. However, if you still have a hard time figuring out how many times you should inspect the property, you should take some factors into account.
Purpose of Entry
You can determine how many times you need to inspect the property by the purpose. Your property manager will advise you to always inspect the property when a tenant moves in and moves out to find out how well the rental was taken care of.
There are times when property owners conduct inspections every season if they agree upon it with the tenant when signing the lease. Therefore, the resident of the property should be aware of each time a property inspection might occur.
Landlords have the right to the shallow inspection of the property, meaning they can just visit the tenants now and then to see the condition of the real estate. In this case, as well, the landlord must notify the tenant beforehand. The owner mustn’t disturb the tenant and interfere with their privacy.
Quiet Enjoyment
The tenant has a right to privacy and quiet enjoyment. Although the house belongs to the property owner, the residents are allowed to enjoy the property without interference. Frequent and excessive inspections can disturb the quiet enjoyment of the tenant and, therefore, interfere with the right to privacy.
Distinguishing the rights of tenants and landlords can be somewhat problematic as the landlord has every right to check up on their property as they see fit, but the tenant has the right to privacy.
The best solution is for landlords to make sure they conduct inspections only when necessary and don’t disturb the tenant’s right to quiet enjoyment.
Bottom Line
It’s important to inspect a property to ensure that it’s in perfect condition and it’s safe to live on. Landlords should keep up with their local laws and conduct inspections within the set limitations. Ensure that you protect your tenants and property as well as your tenant’s rights to privacy.