Part III: How to Declutter Your Property Management Process

Part III: In Tenancy

☐ Repairs

A well-kept household will minimize future hassles, both with emergency and move-out repairs. You will be able to turn over the property faster if you continue to maintain its condition.

Remember to always assess whether you or the tenant is responsible for repairs. Occasionally, damage is caused by the tenant and needs to be charged back to them.

☐ Recurring Maintenance

From your lawn to your roof gutters, a manicured property benefits both you and your tenant.

☐ Monthly Rent Payments

Have you heard of any drawbacks with online ACH payments? If so, then we’d love to hear them. We haven’t found one.

You want to make the process as simple and secure as possible.

(1) Simple: easy to set-up, automated to avoid late payments, smart enough to notify you when a payment is late or missed

(2) Secure: you never want to give your bank information to the tenant and you want the ability to control when and how much money is sent

Why? Because, if you want to evict a tenant but they continue to pay rent (and you give them the ability to do so), then it will be more difficult to get rid of the tenant).

☐ Property Accounting

Track all property income (rent) and expenses for tax reporting purposes. You should track property financials on a per property basis, rather than co-mingling the income and expense. It will be easier to assess your properties’ performances and file taxes if you have a separate bank account or entity for each property.

You can discuss with your tax consultant, but most expenses can net against your income when you report your income on your tax reports.

☐ Renewals

Roughly 60 days before the annual lease renewal, understand the updated value of your property and assess new rental rates. Keep in mind that turnover costs can be high and you will want to factor that into the updated price offered to the current tenants. Typically, you offer the current tenants slightly below the market rate to incentivize them to stay in the unit, thus eliminating turnover costs.

For the complete rental process, view the checklist here.