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Rental Documents Every Landlord Should Have

by | Jan 27, 2023 | Blog, Homeowners, Homes, Villas and Condos, Investment Property in Florida, News, Property Management, Renters | 0 comments

Rental Documents Every Landlord Should Have

 

A handful of tasks go into being a landlord — you’ll need to advertise your rental listing, screen prospective tenants, collect rent payments, turnover an apartment, and much more. 

While some landlords opt for hiring a property manager to help, you can easily do everything yourself with the right rental documents and tools. Here are the top 10 rental documents that are essential for managing a rental property. 

1. Pre-Screening Questionnaire

A pre-screening questionnaire can help you filter through tenant leads to determine which are worth pursuing before scheduling a property showing. The questionnaire can highlight if a person meets the income requirements, is willing to submit a rental application, and can pay the rental application fee. 

2. Online Rental Application

After conducting a property showing with a prospective tenant, it’s important to have them complete an online rental application to better understand their renting history, credit usage, and more. 

3. Prospective Tenant Acceptance and Rejection Letter

As a landlord, it’s advised to let applicants know whether or not their application has been accepted or denied. If you’ve accepted an application through Avail, your new tenant will automatically be emailed with the news, as well as next steps. 

However, tenants will also need to be properly notified when their application has been rejected. A prospective tenant rejection letter can clearly outline why their application has been denied in a friendly manner.

4. State-Specific Lease Agreement

One of the top rental property forms every landlord needs is an online lease agreement that’s state-specific and reviewed by a lawyer. When using Avail to manage your rentals, you can easily access lease agreement templates that have already been reviewed by a team of trusted lawyers and include all the information required by local ordinances. 

Our lease agreements can also be digitally signed for free and saved to your account for both parties to reference throughout the lease term. 

5. Tenant Welcome Letter

Providing a welcome letter to your new tenant can make the moving process less overwhelming, especially if they’re new to the neighborhood. A tenant welcome letter outlines the utilities they’re responsible for covering, your contact information, answers to commonly asked questions, and local places to visit. 

Although it’s not required to provide tenants with a welcome letter, it’s a nice gesture that can position you as an awesome landlord.

6. Move-In and Move-Out Checklist

Similar to a tenant welcome letter, a move-in and move-out checklist lets your tenant know what to check to ensure everything in the property is functioning properly. It also makes it easier to identify what needs to be fixed or replaced either before or after the tenant has moved out. 

7. Lease Renewal Letter

To avoid long vacancy periods and high apartment turnover costs, you can offer lease renewal options to your tenants 30 to 60 days before the lease term ends. It can also act as proof that renewal options were presented to the tenant, even if they choose not to renew. 

8. Security Deposit Return Letter

If you collected security deposit fees from your tenants, you’ll need to provide a security deposit return letter within a certain period. A security deposit return letter outlines the amount you collected, the rental property address, any deductions you took, and when it was returned. 

9. Rent Roll Template  

A rent roll template is the key to organizing any generated income from your rental properties. When collecting rent with Avail, a rent roll report is automatically generated that outlines all the rental payments that have been collected from your tenants. The report can then be exported as an excel spreadsheet to share with your accountant during tax season.

10. Apartment Turnover Checklist

There will be times when you’ll need to turnover an apartment once it’s time to find a new tenant, and an apartment turnover checklist will help. This process can be overwhelming as a first-time landlord, but having a checklist on hand that outlines the most important steps can reduce the stress. 

 

Looking for an Experienced Residential Property Manager?

If you have a home to rent in the Orlando area be assured there is no substitute for experience. Covering Clermont, Winter Garden, Windermere, Dr Philips, Kissimmee, Davenport, Champions Gate, Hunters Creek and Haines City. We remain focused on this greater Orlando area to ensure we are able to provide outstanding service to our Clients without sacrificing performance. Looking for an experienced residential Property Manager in the Orlando area with a demonstrable track record – look no further.

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