Landlord's Tenant Move-Out Checklist and Move-Out Tips for Rental Properties
Create a tenant move-out checklist to protect rental homes, minimize vacancies and prevent tenant misunderstandings.
A landlord’s tenant move-out checklist puts rental property owners and tenants on the same page when it comes to tenant responsibilities and procedures when vacating a rental unit. Use the following move-out tips to create a tenant move-out checklist, which will protect the condition of your North Carolina rental property, minimize the days your property sits vacant and prevent misunderstandings with tenants.
Put Tenant Move-Out Responsibilities in the Rental Property Lease to Minimize Misunderstandings
A landlord’s rental property lease should always spell out the move-out process and tenant responsibilities when vacating the property. Not only should tenants be required to provide a notice when vacating the property, but they should also be required to leave the property in the same condition it was in when their tenancy began. Finally, the lease should spell out that keys should be returned, explain the move-out inspection and describe the security deposit process.
Rental Property Move-Out Tips for Landlords
Minimizing vacancies is key to having profitable rental real estate investments. To shorten the time between tenants, landlords should have wording in the lease which allows them to begin marketing the rental property before the tenant’s lease ends or once the tenant has provided the required notice that they will be vacating.
Another move-out tip for landlords is to require that the tenant be present at the rental property during the move-out inspection. This will help address and head off any security deposit issues. Finally, do not hand over the security deposit on the spot at the end of the walk-through inspection. While you should not delay delivery of the security deposit funds any longer than needed, use some of the time period allotted by your state’s landlord-tenant law to make sure nothing was missed during the move-out inspection.
Add Rental Property Inspection to Tenant Move-Out Checklist
Landlords, do you remember the rental property inspection move-in checklist your tenants completed, signed and returned to you at the beginning of their tenancy? Well, now is the time to open up your file cabinet and pull that document out in preparation for the tenant move-out inspection. Remember, your tenants should be present for this walk-through inspection of your North Carolina rental home.
Why does the tenant need to be at the move-out inspection? One reason is to clear up any misunderstandings while both the landlord and tenant are present. If a landlord notices a hole in the wall behind the door and then tenant says it was there when they moved in, then you can point out that the move-in checklist makes no mention of this damage.
During this inspection, you may want to point out anything that the tenants might still need to do to comply with the lease and retain more of their security deposit. Once the rental property move-out inspection is complete, all parties should sign and date the document. Landlords can then use this documentation if there is a dispute over the security deposit.
Taking the time to follow these steps when a tenant moves out of your rental property in North Carolina will save landlords a lot of headaches and minimize security deposit disputes. Have any further questions about tenant move-out checklists or Red Door Company’s North Carolina property management services? Contact us today and let’s talk.