Another If you're a landlord question ...

What wxactly is the landlord responsible for throughout the life of the lease? Maintaining the landscaping, tending to plumbing/electrical/etc emergencies and what else? we have a new tenant in our first house. Nothing was specified in the lease agreement, other than some items they requested ahead of time which were all addressed.

Day 1 - we got a call about bees in the attic. We never ever saw bees in the house in the 8 years we lived there. We immediately called and exterminator and he was unable to find not one bee. Costing us $$$ for his services.

Day 2 - one of the blinds has a missing piece, so they send me a picture of it. I'm assuming they want it replaced.

Day 3 - they took a picture of a cluster of ants on the floor and sent it to us. Asking us to fumigate.

They are new tenants and we really like them. We're going to address and fix all of these issues not to cause any conflict, but is this normal? Neither my husband nor I have ever rented or been landlords before so we don't know if this is normal. Shouldn't they just be calling for emergencies and maintaining the house themselves? Please educate me! I don't want to be stressed everyday wondering what their next call/text will be, and I also want to do my part as a landlord and maintain a good relationship with them.

TIA!

Re: Another If you're a landlord question ...

Usually the responsibilities of each party should be set forth in the lease.

My rule of thumb is the landlord's responsibility encompasses the structure and overall maintenance of the home and also maintenance of things to keep the house in line with town or village codes. With regard to the outside of the house, I don't maintain the gardens. I will maintain the lawn. In the village, if the lawn is overgrown, we get fined so I want it taken care of. Sometimes you can work out an agreement with the tenant, like they will maintain the lawn and you can decrease the rent $100/month or something.

As far as extermination goes, that's the landlords responsibility. Things that are really esthetic, like the blinds, are the tenant's responsibility. My only exception with that is if I wanted things a certain way. So if I wanted to keep all of the blinds coordinated in the house, I would fix the blinds. If they were cheapy Home Depot blinds, not my problem.

On the other hand, DH's uncle has a bunch of rentals and he basically takes the position that he will charge a lesser rent but he doesn't want to hear about anything through the life of the lease. That's the trade off to the renters. They are responsible for everything at the home, just like they owned it. It really depends on how you have worked your lease.

Re: Another If you're a landlord question ...

I probably would not have sent out an exterminator so quick. My DH would have gone up to the attic, looked for a nest, and sprayed himself.
The blinds should not be your responsibility.
As for the ants, if you know this us an issue in the home, yes, you can call someone and have it sprayed. Or again, if it's a small issue, like with the bees, I would have DH spray or lay traps himself.

Another If you're a landlord question ...

Exterminating is the landlord's responsibility but it would have to be a case that actually requires an exterminator. The blinds arent your responsibility. Home lawn care, when ive rented, ive always had to pay personally.

Re: Another If you're a landlord question ...

Thank you all!!

I think maybe it freaked us out because it was literally a complaint a day for the first three days. I do regret jumping to call the exterminator for the bees, but his call was so urgent saying there were so many and he was allergic. There was no sign of bees at all! My husband is going to take care of everything, even the blinds and just set the tone now... that unless it's a major issue, they shouldn't call us for every little thing. As for the landscaping, it was specifically written into the contract that we pay for that, and is much rather it that way than things getting overgrown and annoying the neighbors.

Re: Another If you're a landlord question ...

Just curious, what was the tenant's reaction when they were told there was not one bee? Just odd that they said there were so many and exterminator couldn't find one.

When DH and I rented our apartment for 8 years and I could count on one hand the number of times we called our landlord and he lived next door. We probably should have but just never wanted to bother. Like we had a big problem with ants one summer, we bought a bunch of stuff and researched online and finally got some ant chalk (or something like that) and then they were gone. It never occurred to us to even call the landlord.

We also had an extremely good relationship with him. Our rent was never raised. We never formally renewed our lease after the first year. He said he was happy we were great tenants who paid on time, were quiet, clean. It was worth it to him to keep us at our rent than try to raise the rent. We always bought him a bottle of wine at Christmas and he was genuinely happy for us when we moved out to buy our house and said he wanted to know when we had our first baby.

We realize how lucky we were. We said we would never want to be landlords! Good luck!

Another If you're a landlord question ...

When we rented a house we were responsible for all including the landscaping.
When our heat broke the landlord wanted US to pay for a new heating system. We had to fight him on that because we knew that was not our responsibility. Ultimately he did fix it. But it was like we owned the home.

Another If you're a landlord question ...

Is should have been set forth in the lease. We do landscape maintenance. Also we plow/shovel with snow. However with this season and crazy snow if it's 7am and it's been snowing all night it's up to them to dig themselves out. The plow will be around as soon as possible.

Blinds are their problem. Bees I would have checked myself Bc that is an odd issue. As far as ants tell them to buy raid or ant gel! If it's a serious problem then you'll need an exterminator but all the do for ante is set gel traps or put down grains. Things YOU can do. Furthermore of ants are a problem get on a yearly contract. It's like $80 a year and they'll come whenever you call and every few weeks as maintenance.

Tenants can be realllyyyyyy annoying.

Re: Another If you're a landlord question ...

Normally the guidelines are set in the lease agreement. I know when I rented privately that we were responsible for pest control, as per the agreement. As for the ants, that's something they can handle themselves, just tell them to buy Ortho Home Defense and spray. And the broken blind it should be their problem.

We rarely bothered our landlord. The only time we really needed them was when the wall in our shower collapsed. Other than that, everything was all us.

Re: Another If you're a landlord question ...

Know someone who is a landlord. She has been doing this for Years and her lease is pretty lengthy as it should be. You should cover all bases as far as landscape maintenance/snow removal, repair or replacement of appliances, plumbing heating, plumbing was a big thing of course if cesspool was full etc she took care of that but any clogs because of throwing things down that you should have would be their responsibility to clear up.

She always had issues with electrical bills and she always loved the tenants with the AC on and all the windows up for some "fresh air". Taking advice from her lawyer she slightly lowered her monthly rent fee to include that tenants are responsible for electric as well. Best thing she did. She included in her lease not to disturb peace with neighbors (common sense) I know she also listed the one pet allowed on premise-no additional. A liability clause stolen or injury etc.

Im trying to imagine what she would say if she got these calls you did. She is tough but completely fair landlord the one missing blind would probably raise a red flag to her of being a pain in the ass.

Another If you're a landlord question ...

we went through an agent to get our tenants. There was a lengthily lease set up for us. We were not responsbile for the normal everyday house stuff. WE were not responsible for lawn maintenance, any bills that were incurred the time they were here, etc. We were responsible for the house overall, and any major stuff like the tree that fell, not close to the house but they were freaking out. they once text me about a light bulb being out. Now we were living in Boston and they were in CT, lol, but I shut that down fast. I text her a copy of the lease part about light fixtures lol. We were in the same spot as original poster. They would call us for everythign at first. We finally said, to not call us for small things etc. Well I guess we scared them b/c one day I said my dh would be in CT and come by just to check on things and they text me a pic of the kitchen sink falling out. Like literally half way out. Like come on, you call for a light bulb but not that? lmao. It was so bizarre. of course we fixed that. We hated being landlords. I don't ever want to do that again. A sannoying as they were, they were very responsible and kept the house nice

Another If you're a landlord question ...

We rent out our old house and the tenant is responsible for the landscaping. We live in NC if that matters

Another If you're a landlord question ...

I thought of two things. I approved a cat but then tenant got another one. If you agree to an animal state no more if you wish.

Also same thing happened twice with an extra person. A guys girlfriend moved in. State in lease the rent goes up if another person moves in.

Re: Another If you're a landlord question ...

Thank you ladies!!!

I just reviewed the contract and none of these items fall under our responsibility!! The contract even specifies that the tenant is responsible for all exterminating fees. We aren't going to cause any waves, so we'll take care of the bill this time. As for the blinds, if they don't like them, it's their responsibility to change them if they want to... we left them as a courtesy. I'm going to sit down with them this week and just go over everything so we're on the same page.

Message edited 5/11/2015 10:33:09 PM.

Re: Another If you're a landlord question ...

Posted by Dolphinsbaby

Just curious, what was the tenant's reaction when they were told there was not one bee? Just odd that they said there were so many and exterminator couldn't find one.