It’s hard to find good tenants
Owners often comment on how hard it is to find good tenants. Why is this? I have rented many properties to wonderful people who are great tenants. The tenant selection process is possibly the most important part of being a Landlord. Landlords who rush through this process and don’t look closely at the details, often find them self with tenants down the road who aren’t a positive experience. Another very important aspect of being a Landlord is when tenants vacate your property.
Even with all your due diligence people slip through the cracks.The question is, what can Landlords do to help prevent these situations? Often I hear Landlords explain stories of tenants who have vacated their property leaving items behind, or damaged the unit. At this time I ask what actions they have taken and the landlord is confused.
When a tenant vacates your property it’s important to perform the move out process correctly to assist in preventing future issues. During the move out process tenants are required to provide a forwarding address inorder to receive their damage deposit back. When tenants fail to provide a forwarding address, Landlords must hold onto the damage deposit for one year. If the tenant hasn’t provided their address within this time frame, then a Landlord may keep the damage deposit.
When tenants vacate with or without providing a forwarding address the Landlord’s should follow the process to recoup the cost incurred by tenants leaving items behind or causing damage to the property. A move out inspection should be performed, even when tenants fail to attend. This is important to show the Residential Tenancy branch you followed procedure and what the condition of the property was when they vacated.
After your tenants have vacated Landlords have an obligation to other Landlords to take appropriate actions in claiming damages. Why? If a Landlord files a claim for damages with the Residential Tenancy Branch and is granted a monetary order, a Landlord can then proceed to have the claim applied to the tenants credit history, and send them to collections to recoup the costs. Landlords often say this is time consuming and I don’t want to make that effort. Here lies the issue. If a Landlord doesn’t follow proper process tenants will continue to rent properties leaving them in poor condition. If Landlord’s took the time to pursue negative renters, tenants would find themselves unable to rent properties as previous actions would be reflected on credit searches, providing future Landlord’s which could be you, the ability to make more informed decisions. If you had information that identified a tenant with a debt owing to a previous Landlord, you would have made a different decision about renting to the applicant.
Landlords can help each other by following through on tracking down bad tenants. The Limitation Act in BC allows two years to start a legal proceeding to claim a debt. This allows the owner two years to file a claim with the RTB and then CRT small claims court to enforce a monetary order and seek compensation for the damages.
The move out process is complicated, If you need assistance managing your rental property Cartref Properties can assist you, call today to discuss your needs. You can find more information about us at: www.cartrefproperties.com
