Why Your Portland Property Management Company Should Do Quarterly Inspections
A quarterly inspection is one of the most important parts of managing a home. It’s a good opportunity to verify the tenant is maintaining and taking care of your property. This is also your best chance to really take a look around and make sure there is no damage to the property or areas suffering from neglect.
Your tenants shouldn’t get offended when you request permission to enter the home for a walk through. As long as you have established a trusting and respectful relationship with your tenants, they will be willing to let you conduct your inspection. Always give them plenty of notice so they aren’t surprised by your visit. At Property Management Systems, we discuss our process of quarterly inspections with the tenants at the time the lease is signed. This way, they understand what we will be doing and why. It also gives them plenty of time to prepare for the first inspection.
Our quarterly inspection procedure is to walk around the entire property, both the inside and the outside. We talk to the tenant about any issues or problems as well as any concerns that the tenant might have. It’s also important to check for code violations; so inspect things like smoke detectors. We take notes and schedule any necessary repairs.we notify the owner and we communicate the problem with the tenant through a written notification.
If there is a lease violation that we notice on one of these inspections, That letter includes instructions on what to do to bring the house back into compliance with the lease. Any time there is something of concern at the property, we return and do another inspection to verify the problem has been taken care of.
Typically, a property manager does not charge owners extra for the quarterly inspections. It’s something that should be included in your maintenance fee, so make sure you discuss this with your property manager before signing a contract.
Quarterly inspections are essential for property managers. When tenants know the home will be inspected regularly, they are more likely to keep it clean and in good repair. If you have any questions about how we manage our inspections, or you need help developing your own inspection procedure, please contact us at Property Management Systems, and we’d be happy to help you.
