Good maintenance attracts quality tenants
"It is more expensive to have a property standing empty than to maintain it, attend to any repairs that may be needed and get expert help from a reputable managing agent to select good tenants."
THE more you have to spend on maintenance and repairs, the less profit you make on your rental property.
“But this concern always needs to be weighed against the fact that a dirty, run-down property will not attract or keep good tenants,” says Andrew Schaefer, MD of Trafalgar.
“It is more expensive to have a property standing empty than to maintain it, attend to any repairs that may be needed and get expert help from a reputable managing agent to select good tenants.”
The Rental Housing Act provides for the landlord to maintain any property that is rented out both internally and externally, although it does also say that the landlord and tenant can make a different arrangement.
“In this case, however, your lease agreement will need to spell out exactly who is responsible for what maintenance.
“And in all cases, it is very important to correctly manage expectations.
“Tenants need to understand, for example, that the landlord’s responsibility is to hand-over the property in a ‘habitable’ or ‘fit for purpose’ condition, which means that it should be safe to occupy, clean and neat and that everything such as lights and taps should be in working order.
“It does not mean that the landlord is responsible for cleaning the property while the tenants are in occupation or for mowing the lawn and maintaining the pool.”
Schaefer says landlords need to understand that they are responsible for fixing any problem related to “fair wear and tear”, that is, damage resulting from the everyday use of an item or from age or exposure to the weather, even when it is the tenant that has the use of the item. Examples are door handles and locks, gate motors, pool pumps and geysers.
“The repair or replacement of such items needs to be attended to as soon as possible, while things that are more a matter of aesthetics, such as repainting the property, can be done at a later date.”
If the property is in a sectional title complex, he notes, some exterior maintenance items such as waterproofing may be the responsibility of the body corporate rather than the individual landlord, and this will then also need to be spelled out in the lease.
“There should be no room for doubt that any damages that are beyond fair wear and tear or have been deliberately caused will be the responsibility of the tenants or that they may forfeit their deposit if they move out without making the necessary repairs,” he concluded.
