When a resident leaves one of your properties, it can be a stressful time. Repairs may need to be made to the apartment in order to bring it back to being ready for a new resident. If the previous residents left the place a mess, you may be stuck with a lot of clean up. Not to mention that when they leave, the income stops so you won’t have any new money coming in to help fix all of this. There are a couple of things that you can do to ensure that the process goes smoothly and that you have the apartment back up and on the market in no time.

Check Your Lease Language

Your lease agreement should clearly spell out who is in charge of what, and what your resident is responsible for. You won’t want to have any surprises when it comes down to it. Make sure that the terms of leaving are spelled out clearly and that the resident has to give you a certain amount of notice before they just pack up and leave. This will give you some time to get the apartment back on the market and a head start on finding a new resident. Standard procedure is to request one or two month’s notice.

Create A Maintenance Schedule

Don’t leave everything up until the day that your residents move out. If you do, it will take longer to get the apartment ready for new residents to move in. Spell out a maintenance schedule for the residents who are leaving as soon as they give their notice. Don’t intrude on their lives, but make it clear that you will need to be coming in to check up on a few things and to make a few repairs. Inspect everything, or have a professional inspect everything so that you can create a plan for what you need to fix. With plenty of notice from your residents, you will also be able to charge them for any part of the repairs if needed. Waiting until they are gone does not give you this opportunity, or you end up trying to track them down.

Establish Moving Out Guidelines

Outline in your lease what time of day they need to move out. Having a deadline will ensure that you can have a time frame to give your next residents for moving in. You might want to lay out that the resident has to clean the apartment before moving out. Or that if they painted the walls, they are in charge of painting them back to a neutral color. If you have these guidelines clearly spelled out from the beginning, you can charge them or take the cost out of their security deposit if they fail to complete the agreement.

Have A Final Inspection

Schedule a time with the resident to do a final walk through. Make it after all of their stuff is moved out and walk through together to assess the condition of the apartment. This leaves no room for surprises later when they resident leaves and you are left with a giant mess. It also makes them feel confident that you are not going to charge them for something that they didn’t do. Both parties can benefit from a final walk through together.

If you are looking for tips and tricks on how to manage your property, turn to Occupancy Solutions. We’ve got the information you need to keep your business running smoothly. Contact us today for more information.