Should Residents Be Allowed to Do Their Own Maintenance?

Should Residents Be Allowed to Do Their Own Maintenance?

Should Residents Be Allowed to Do Their Own Maintenance?

Should Residents Be Allowed to Do Their Own Maintenance?

As an investment property owner, you’ve probably had at least a minor maintenance issue or two at your property.

And once your resident notified you of this minor issue, chances are that you were met with the statement:

“I don’t want to wait for a vendor to come out. Can’t I just repair this myself?”

Well, that depends.

Essentially, the blanket answer is no, but there are exceptions to every rule. 

 

Professional Maintenance of Your Property

When it comes to the maintenance of your property, you want to ensure that you’re utilizing skilled professionals that know what they’re doing. 

If you allow your resident to perform repairs at the property, a couple of less-than-desirable outcomes could occur:

  1. They don’t do the repair correctly, causing you additional maintenance and additional expense
  2. The resident can damage your property if repairs are done improperly 
  3. The resident gets hurt while performing maintenance, which causes a liability to you as an owner

But when using a professional, you have the peace of mind that they can perform skilled work because they’ve been trained in it. 

The cost is a little higher up front, but will ultimately save you money in the long run. 

 

Licensed & Insured Vendors

An important item to note is that you want to ensure that the vendors you work with have appropriate insurance and licensing in their field. 

If the vendor you hire does something wrong, damages property, gets hurt, etc. their insurance will cover it. 

With hiring properly licensed & insured vendors, your liability is greatly reduced in a number of ways.

 

Examples of Maintenance that Residents Should NOT Do:

  • Any major mechanical repairs involving: 
    • Plumbing
    • HVAC
    • Appliance
    • Electrical
  • Roof repairs
  • Flooring/carpet installation
  • Siding or window repairs
  • Gutter clean out
  • Lawn maintenance and snow removal when there are multiple units at a property

This isn’t an exhaustive list of everything that residents shouldn’t do maintenance-wise. 

However, it does serve as a brief summary of some of the most important items that you don’t want to risk a resident handling themselves.

 

Examples of Maintenance that Residents Can/Should Do:

  • Small routine maintenance that would be expected when living in a home
    • Change out a furnace filter
    • Water filter
    • Changing light bulbs
    • Lawn maintenance for a single-family home
      • Cutting grass, trimming trees, shrubs, etc.
    • Snow removal for a single-family home

At times, an item may need to be purchased to aid in small routine maintenance, like a dehumidifier or space heater. 

You can allow the resident to purchase the item, provide you a receipt, and you can reimburse them if there is a need for that specific item (that doesn’t require professional installation).

Any good lease (like ours) covers these topics and puts the responsibility on the resident for these routine service items.

 

Overall…

It’s in your best interest to hire professionals to handle most major maintenance items/repairs at your property. 

Professionals are best when considering liability concerns, properly done maintenance, and long-term care of your property. 

After all, your property is a big asset that you want to protect.

But, with that being said, there are always a few minor things that the resident should be responsible for outlined above. 

The list does not include anything major, but just what would be regularly expected of someone occupying a home.

If you’d like to discuss any of this, please contact us about your specific situation. We’d be happy to walk through your situation and property needs with you!

What To Do When an Evicted Resident Leaves Belongings Behind

What To Do When an Evicted Resident Leaves Belongings Behind

What to Do When an Evicted Resident Leaves Belongings Behind

What to Do When an Evicted Resident Leaves Belongings Behind

Evictions: Unfortunate, But Sometimes Unavoidable

As you may know, evictions are an occasional obstacle that we deal with in property management.

Maybe you’ve dealt with an eviction before as an owner, and maybe you haven’t.

If you haven’t had any experience with evictions, check out our blog post on the timeline of an eviction.

In that post, we detail out the course of the whole eviction process.

But, whether you’ve had to evict a resident before or not, you may have asked yourself the question: 

“What do I do if the resident I evicted leaves their belongings behind in my property?”

While each eviction case is unique, we’ll try to break this part of the process down into the simplest terms.

 

What to Do if the Evicted Resident DOES Contact You 

Chances are, the evicted resident will want at least some of their belongings back.

If that’s the case, the resident has 10 days to contact you and let you know that they’d like to retrieve their belongings.

If they do contact you, you must arrange for them to have access to gather their personal property within 30 days. 

Note: This 30 day period begins the day of the eviction.

Once you’ve confirmed that they’ve retrieved everything they want, you’re legally allowed to do what you see fit with the the items that they leave behind.

 

What to Do if the Evicted Resident Does NOT Contact You

If the evicted resident fails to contact you within the initial 10 days, they forfeit their right to retrieve their belongings. 

After the 10 day period of no contact, you are allowed to do what you see fit with the items they left behind.

However, to be on the safe side, we recommend you hold onto their items for the full 30 day period. 

 

In Simplest Terms: 

 

What to Do When an Evicted Resident Leaves Belongings Behind Eviction occurs → Resident has 10 days to contact you If you are contacted → Resident has 30 days to get their belongings If you are not contacted → After 10 days, you can handle their belongings how you see fit

 

Eviction occurs → Resident has 10 days to contact you

If you are contacted → Resident has 30 days to get their belongings

If you are not contacted → After 10 days, you can handle their belongings how you see fit

 

All in All…

While evictions are not a “fun” part of owning a rental property, they do come with the territory.

The good news is that we can help!

We’ve gained expertise in all aspects of property management, including evictions, over the past 40+ years that we’ve been in business.

Contact us today for a free consultation to discuss your unique situation!

Disclaimer: We are not attorneys, and this is not to be considered legal advice. We encourage you to contact your attorney for guidance on your particular situation. This article is meant to provide a general rule or procedure on how this process works.

This is the process as we understand it in Pennsylvania and may not pertain to other states or specific cities within Pennsylvania. We always encourage a consultation with a local attorney who knows and understands Landlord Tenant Law for specific locations.

Arbors Management, Inc. Gains Management of Lakeview Manor

Arbors Management, Inc. Gains Management of Lakeview Manor

Lakeview Manor 1

Stoneboro, PA – Arbors Management continues to expand their reach by adding Lakeview Manor in Stoneboro, PA to their portfolio. Effective June 1st, Arbors will become the new management agent of the 50-unit senior building near their new office in Grove City and other Arbors-managed properties, such as Evergreen Arbors in Franklin and Towne Towers in Oil City.

Lakeview Manor is an affordable independent senior living facility that offers a wonderful community of residents and has been a staple of the community for 36 years since its construction in 1987. Located near Lake Wilhelm, Goddard State Park, the Stoneboro Fairgrounds, Grove City Outlet Mall, and Conneaut Lake, residents have plenty to do just minutes from the property.

Since 1982, Arbors Management, Inc. has built a portfolio of over 4,000 residential units with a large majority in the affordable housing segment across Western PA and West Virginia, and it continues to grow each year. The team at Arbors Management is thrilled to begin building a lasting relationship with the residents of Lakeview Manor.

Read the original article online on the Pittsburgh Business Times here.

Arbors Management, Inc. Partners with Bevan Properties – Grove City, PA

Arbors Management, Inc. Partners with Bevan Properties – Grove City, PA

Grove City, PA – Arbors Management, Inc. is excited to announce their partnership with Bevan Properties and growth into a new territory: Grove City, PA. With this partnership, Arbors Management, Inc. will have become the management agent of over 200 Bevan Properties units in Grove City beginning February 16th, 2023.

Bevan Properties is a well-known, reputable housing provider in the Grove City area; Arbors Management looks forward to continuing Bevan’s work in providing the utmost quality of management services, customer service, and care for their current and future residents.

Read the original article online on The Pittsburgh Business Times here.

Should I Allow Pets in My Pittsburgh Property?

Should I Allow Pets in My Pittsburgh Property?

Image is of the title of the blog post "Should I Allow Pets in My Pittsburgh Rental Property?" Image has the faces of three cats and one dog.

By: Nick Griffith & Nicole Fandel, Director of Conventional Housing and Marketing Specialist

 

Should I Allow Pets in My Pittsburgh Rental Property?

Many Pittsburgh rental property owners want to know if they should allow pets into their homes or if they should avoid them.

Whether you’re a pet lover or not, there are a lot of pros and cons to discuss when it comes to welcoming pets into your rental property.

 

Pro-Pets: Resident Pool and Pricing

The main benefit of allowing pets is that you’ll get a larger pool of potential residents interested in your home.

When pet owners have access to your property, you’ll get a larger selection of applicants and a bigger audience of people who want to see your property and lease it.

Today, it seems like almost everyone has a cat or a dog or a hamster that they cherish – pets are part of the family. So, it’s ultimately easier to rent out your home when you decide to allow pets.

Another pro of allowing pets in your rental property is additional revenue.

You’ll have the ability to charge pet rent in addition to the rent your resident pays. People are very attached to their animals, and they’ll be willing to pay a little more to have them in the property.

You can reap those benefits when you allow pets and charge a little more each month to cover potential additional wear and tear.

 

Can I Charge a Pet Deposit?

Owners will often want to know if they can charge a pet deposit in addition to the security deposit when they allow pets.

In Pennsylvania, the law says that we can only charge a security deposit that’s the equivalent of one month’s rent. So, we don’t typically charge an additional pet deposit because a deposit has to be returned to the residents.

Instead, we charge the pet rent, which generates additional income for our owners every month.

 

Avoiding Pets: Potential for Damage

The biggest reason that property owners prefer to avoid pets is that there’s a potential for property damage.

We’ve all heard the horror stories: pets might pee on the floors, scratch the carpet, and chew up the baseboards. They can make messes.

Yes, these things can happen; but generally, pets are often well-trained and well-behaved.

If your residents take care of their pets and the property, you won’t have any unnecessary damage.

However, there’s no guarantee. When you’re screening residents and deciding whether or not to accept a pet, you have to consider the animal’s breed, size, and weight.

Consider the applicant as well. You’ll need to determine whether that applicant is a responsible pet owner who can truly care for the animal as well as your property.

 

Service and Support Animals

image is of an emotional support animal/emotional support dogAnother hot topic is the rise of service animals and emotional support therapy animals.

These are animals that are coming into the property to help the resident perform daily tasks, or help them emotionally through their daily lives.

If a resident has a service or support animal, we cannot discriminate against those animals, even if there’s a strict no-pet policy in place.

To protect your property, we will always ensure the appropriate documentation and supporting medical notes are in place to verify a service animal or an emotional support animal. We don’t want residents to try and skirt the rules, or put our owners in an unfavorable position.

 

In Conclusion: Pets or No Pets?

Ultimately, the decision to allow pets is up to you, the owner.

Whether you choose to allow pets or not, we have policies, procedures, and documents that ensure that we are compliant with the laws.

We’ll charge your residents an appropriate amount for the added benefit of moving in with their furry friends, and make sure your property is protected.

If you have any questions about pets, or anything at all pertaining to your Pittsburgh rental property, please contact us and we’d be more than happy to help.