When do I provide the keys to the rental unit?
The tenant selection process involves many steps. The final step is to hand over the keys to the tenant. When is the right time to hand over the keys?
The tenant selection process starts when the property is first advertised for rent, followed by showings to prospective tenants and screening of applicants for the property. All of these steps give you a glimpse into the person you are potentially renting to. During these interactions is when you read between the lines of what the person is saying and what they do? When a prospective tenant is late for a showing, this is showing disrespect for your time. If you ask for more details to be submitted with the application form and they are slow and or reluctant to assist you this is a sign they are not being truthful to who they are.
After completing your due diligence and you agree to select the applicants for the property you should draft the lease agreement and have them sign the paperwork. In BC as soon as they sign the tenancy agreement and provide the damage deposit you have entered into a contract with them for the property. It does not mean you must provide the keys at this time. It means the tenants have rights to the property, and if you changed your mind they may have recourse against you for breaking the agreement. We like to complete the lease signing and collection of the damage deposit before the move-in date. We find this holds the tenants responsible for the contract.
We sign the tenancy agreement and collect the damage deposit, then schedule a move-in inspection near the move-in date. At the move-in inspection we complete the condition inspection report with the tenants indicating the condition of the property. The condition inspection report has a section for how many keys you are providing to the tenant and should be indicated on the form. We then collect the first month’s rent. After we have the first month’s rent and they have signed the condition inspection form, then we hand over the keys.
I am surprised by stories of people who have handed over keys to people when the tenants have failed to pay a full damage deposit, the rent or completed the condition inspection report. Keys should never be provided without all three of those things being completed. The RTB standard agreement has a section where you indicate when the damage/pet deposit is due by. We always indicate the first day of the tenancy for the due date. If the deposit isn’t paid on this date tenants are not provided with the keys.
An applicant who fails to pay the damage deposit or miss the condition inspection report is likely to be a person you don’t want to be renting to.
Need assistance managing your rental property, Cartref Properties can assist you, call today to discuss your needs. You can find more information about us at: www.cartrefproperties.com
When should I serve a ten day notice?
Many times I am asked when should a ten day notice be sent when tenants fail to pay rent? The answer lies in your tenancy agreement. We make our tenancy agreements for rent to be paid on the 1st day of each month. In this situation tenants have the right to pay rent up to the end of the day on the first, 11:59pm. This means if we have not received rent by the second day of the month, rent is determined to be late.
As soon as the rent is determined to be late a notice should be sent to the tenant. Each day you delay sending the notice, the timeline for receiving the rent or the person being evicted is extended. The Residential Tenancy Act has rules on when documents are received depending on how they are sent. A ten day notice states the tenant has 5 days to pay the rent, utilities or file for arbitration with the Residential Tenancy Branch. Failing any of those actions, they are expected to vacate the property ten days after receiving the notice.
It is important to understand when the document is received based on how you delivered the notice. Let’s assume the notice was sent by mail which has the longest time frame of five days for deemed received notice. If you mail the notice on the 2nd day of the month it takes five days to be deemed received. You don’t count the day it is sent. That would mean the document would be received on the 7th of the month. That gives the tenant the next five days starting on the 8th to pay the rent, which would be the 12th day of the month. Based on this information, it means a tenant would have until the end of day on the 12th to pay the unpaid rent with no further action to be taken. If the tenant fails to pay within this timeline they are supposed to move out after ten days of receiving the notice. Looking at the mailing process the ten day time would be on the date of the 17th of the month. This means if the tenant is residing at the property on the 18th of the month they have failed to follow the requirements of the notice. This will require the landlord to file for a hearing with the Residential Tenancy Branch to obtain an order of possession to have them vacate the property.
Many landlords wait until the 18th or later date to file with RTB if they failed to send the notice on the first day possible. What is often misunderstood, is that if the tenant fails to pay the rent by the 12th means they no longer have the right to the rental property. What a landlord could do is file with the Residential Tenancy Branch on the 13th requesting an order of possession due to unpaid rent. This will speed up the timeline of when a hearing will be scheduled. Waiting until the ten days has expired gives the tenant more time at the property and extends the time it takes to have them moved out of the property. If they move out after ten days as required, you can cancel the hearing request.
Need assistance managing your rental property, Cartref Properties can assist you, call today to discuss your needs. You can find more information about us at: www.cartrefproperties.com
When a Tenant wants to break a lease early?
If my tenant wants to break my lease agreement early for relocation of work, what should I do? Some say if they are a good tenant let them go without any hassle. What should you do?
With all the background checking we do it is important to understand as much about our applicants, knowing if they left a tenancy early would be something a landlord would want to know. A tenancy agreement is a contract between two parties, the Landlord and the Tenant. Allowing the tenant to leave without following the terms of the contract isn’t helping other landlords. If you were checking this tenants reference, would you like to know, they left a tenancy before the fixed term ended? Would that make a difference for you considering renting to them?
In BC a fixed term requires both parties to agree to be part of the tenancy until the end of the term. This means the landlord has no right, without cause to evict the tenant before the end of the fixed term, it also means the tenant agrees to rent the property through the end of the fixed term. If the landlord wants to end the tenancy before the fixed term it requires the tenant’s permission and possibly compensation. If a tenant wants to end the agreement early they could be held responsible for rent during the time the unit is vacant and unrented. They can also be required to pay liquidated damages for costs incurred due to them vacating the property early. As a property manager we charge clients a leasing fee to find tenants, and this is a cost a tenant could be required to pay in a liquidated damages clause. It is important to have these additional clauses in the agreement and explain them to the tenant before they move into the property.
It is important to know even though a tenant vacates the property during the fixed term, a Landlord has a responsibility to mitigate their loss which means they must do everything to find a new tenant. If they find a tenant to rent the property immediately following the tenant leaving, the previous tenant would not be responsible for rent moving forward as the Landlord has not experienced a loss. The tenant could still be held responsible for the liquidated damages clause in the tenancy agreement. It is important for Landlords to enforce the agreement and for tenants to understand they are required to adhere to all the terms of the tenancy agreement.
Need assistance managing your rental property, Cartref Properties can assist you, call today to discuss your needs. You can find more information about us at: www.cartrefproperties.com
Unit inspections during a tenancy
Recently I was communicating with a person who was criticising a property manager for the poor work they were doing. They indicated the property manager hadn’t inspected the rental property in the many years they were managing the property, and there were a number of issues with the property.
Cartref Properties includes two inspections with each property within a twelve month period. We find this helps us manage the tenants and the property more effectively. When we discuss this with potential clients they often fail to see the importance of inspecting the unit while it is tenanted and request a reduced cost of management in exchange for no inspections. Cartref Properties won’t manage a property unless we are able to perform inspections every six months. We find there is a significant increase to the landlord having a positive experience when regular inspections are performed.
When tenants are applying and viewing the unit for rent we are open with all potential tenants regarding the inspections and their frequency. We find this increases the quality of tenants applying and reduces the possibility of selecting a poor tenant. Tenants who are okay with the regular inspections have proven to be better quality tenants. We even tell the applicants the reasons for the inspections, which includes ensuring they are doing nothing illegal, investigating if the unit needs repairs before they become out of control and ensuring the people on the tenancy agreement are the only ones residing at the unit. Our tenancy agreement has 38 addendum clauses, many of which we are unable to confirm by the tenant paying rent. We have found again explaining these issues to potential applicants doesn’t scare quality people from applying for the rental unit. We have also found performing the inspections creates better communication with the tenants.
Many landlords and property managers think or believe property management is simple, easy and doesn't require much effort. Finding the tenant is the beginning of the process of owning and or managing a rental property. It is equally important to know what is happening at the property during the tenancy, and this can only be done by visiting the unit regularly. If you hire a property manager, request they perform at least two inspections annually and provide you with a report of their findings. Some insurance providers are demanding this and even more frequent inspections to keep the insurance valid.
Need assistance managing your rental property, Cartref Properties can assist you, call today to discuss your needs. You can find more information about us at: www.cartrefproperties.com
Rental Management only
Cartref Properties provides rental management services only. In BC a real Estate brokerage is able to provide three different types of services, Rental Management, Strata Management and Real Estate Sales. In order to provide these services the brokerage must be licensed to provide whichever service they are offering. We only offer rental management service even though we are licensed for strata management services, why? There is a natural conflict of interest between the three categories, especially with rental and Strata Manager. If a company manages the entire strata and then manages a rental in that same building, they are required to identify one of the clients as the primary client. This means if there is a conflict of interest between the two parties they are only able to represent one party. This would happen when a bylaw infraction occurs. In all cases a management company will select the stata client as the primary and the rental client as the secondary. The real Estate council in BC highly recommends companies who manage a strata corporation don’t manage rental units in the same building. We also have no interest in providing sales service for the same issue. We don’t want to be the real estate agent who is looking for a listing in a hot market and asking you to sell when you’re not interested in selling. Cartref Properties wants to be able to provide property management services to our clients throughout the entire time we are engaged as your property manager, which is why we only provide rental property management services.
Need assistance managing your rental property, Cartref Properties can assist you, call today to discuss your needs. You can find more information about us at: www.cartrefproperties.com