In continuing our series on what to include in a lease today, I will discuss the property rules you want in your lease. Now, many times, you may think that these items are common sense, and they may be, but it’s always good to err on the side of caution and include them in your lease. Make sure everyone’s on the same page.
1. Smoking. What does it look like for someone to smoke at your property? Is it allowed outside but not inside? Is there no smoking period at the property? That’s something you’d want to have outlined in your lease so your tenants understand that we don’t have any smoking on the property, and if you’re caught smoking, here’s the associated fee.
2. Pets. Are pets allowed on the property? Are pets between these weights allowed, are they all allowed, or are only dogs allowed and no cats? You need to specify which pets, how many, and for what period. You may say, “Hey, pets are okay if they’re just there for an hour or two,” or you may say there are no pets on the property, period.
3. General property rules. These are just other rules that you should have in your lease. There are plenty of them, so I can’t get into all of them today. But I’d like to touch on a few.
First is alterations to the property. Are the tenants allowed to paint the outside of the property? Is there an owner involved that would not allow that? Are they allowed to change the flooring? These are things that you may think might not ever happen, but they could, so you need to make sure you have a rule in there addressing those items.
Subletting is another major one. I strongly urge against subletting. You don’t know who is coming and going on the property, and unless they have their names on the lease, you could be held responsible for something that you didn’t even know was happening.
Lastly, is state and federal laws. So you want to make sure that you include all of those into your lease so that you’re in compliance. They can be quite tedious. Anything from illicit behavior to drug use, you want to make sure those are covered and outlined to make sure that you’re covering any of that and protecting yourself against any liability.
Thankfully, at TIDE Property Management, we have all that covered. We include all those items in the lease to protect our clients. If you have any questions regarding any of these rules or how to navigate state and federal law, please reach out to me. I’d be more than happy to have a conversation with you.
