The rental business may seem to be so easy, attractive, and money-promising. However, it is still a business. In other words, it has its risks, problems, and obligations. And as a landlord, you need to have certain skills and abilities to face and handle them:
Decision-making ability;
High communication skills;
Ability to be pro-active.
As it comes with any business, you need to make decisions. Here we speak no only about the decision of how much to charge for the rent or what tenants to settle in your property. Unfortunately, some decisions have to be very unpopular. A crush test on your abilities to be a landlord is your answer to the question whether you can evict, for example, a mom with her three kids in the coldest month or before one of great national holidays. Can you do this knowing they have nowhere and no one to go? Yes, sometimes you have to be tough.
a landlord, you deal a lot with different people. So, your communication skills should be excellent. You may need to negotiate some unfavorable conditions or, at least, build good relationships with your tenants. Well, you simply need to react to some of their needs and problems concerning their comfortable staying in your rental.
At last, you need to be pro-active to avoid a lot of future problems. For example, you need to inspect your property regularly and accomplish minor repairs in time. Thus, you can prevent major repairs, which may affect not only your repair bills, but your rental yield as well.
What Is a Move Out Inspection for Landlords and Tenants?
A move out inspection is checking the condition of the rental unit at the end of a tenant's stay. Due to this procedure, as a landlord you can check his property wasn't damaged by his tenants during their tenancy period. In case there are any damages or non-consensual changes you can claim your tenants to compensate for your repair or rebuilding expenses. You may decrease a security deposit they have paid to you at the beginning of your tenancy agreement. In Dubai, no law specifies the procedure of a move out inspection. So, it is up to you to decide when to conduct the inspection and what things to check. Typically, you have to options here:
Inspect your property before your tenants vacate your rental unit;
Check your property condition after their moving out.
If you check your rental flat, villa, or any other property prior to the vacating date, you may give your tenants time to correct and repair all changes and damages they have done. However, inspecting your property after your tenant's move has its benefits also. For instance, with no tenant's belongings in the unit all damages stay perfectly visible and easy to detect. There is just nothing to hide them.
We always recommend developing a move out check-list and attaching it to your tenancy agreement. Thus, you will inform your tenants about the things you will check at the end of their stay.
Are landlords responsible for pest control?
Article 15 of Law No. 26 of 2007 prescribes a landlord to hand over the property to his tenants in good living condition. Article 16 of the Law No. 26 of 2007 prescribes a landlord to provide good living conditions during the contract validity. Therefore, we can judge, as a landlord you are responsible for pest control in most cases.
First of all, if your property is full of pests, it hardly could be recognized as fit for habitability. So, you shall not hand over infested flat or villa to your tenants. In other words, you must clean your property from all bugs, rats, mice, and other pests before the move-in date. Second, if infestation occurs during your tenancy agreement validity, you need to undertake appropriate measures to fix the issue and incur all pest control expenses. However, if you detect and can prove your tenants' fault for infestation during their stay in your house, pest control becomes your tenants' responsibility. In other words, you may charge them for pest control.
Is landlord responsible for maintenance?
Article 16 of Law No. 26 of 2007 states clear landlord obligations to provide proper maintenance of his rental unit during the contract period. That is to say, you shall carry out repairs and rectify any defects that negatively affect your tenants' living conditions. Of course, your landlord maintenance responsibilities in Dubai don't contradict your rights of having your property undamaged. To clarify, if something goes wrong due to your tenants' fault, they must be responsible for fixing the issue and pay all expenses out of their pocket.
However, don't take too much onto your shoulders. According to real practice, maintenance responsibilities are divided between a landlord and his tenant with a certain clause into their tenancy contract. In other words, there are major and minor repairs and maintenance issues. As a landlord, you shall be responsible for major ones related to basic human needs:
Heating and cooling,
Plumbing, sanitary, and water supply,
Electrical wiring.
In contrast, your tenants shall handle minor repairs and maintenance issues related to various low-cost electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and cooking accessories, such as:
Filters,
Sockets,
Hoses,
Etc.
To conclude, in this post we revealed some tasks that a landlord needs to complete. Some of them are mandatory (maintenance and pest control) while some of them are optional, but still, you have to carry it out for the sake of your own good (move-out inspection). Of course, you can shift these tasks to a property management company, which makes your landlordship very convenient. When we established BSO, we set such assistance as our mission. So, contact us to know more about our services and our property management contract details.
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