You have rented your property and you have a new tenant and they've signed their lease and paid the security deposit - congratulations. What do you need to do now? We are talking today about the move in process and what you need on your landlord move in checklist.
Send a Welcome Letter
You need to step into the move in process. At ES Property Management, we send the tenants a welcome letter. We tell them about what they can expect while working with us, and we talk about the property they have rented. We let them know which utilities need to be turned on in their name; gas, water, sewer, trash, and electricity. We also discuss if there are restrictions on satellite dishes or if they need to get a mailbox key from the post office. We tell them how to make rent payments and submit maintenance requests.
Discuss Renter’s Insurance
Another thing that our welcome letter discusses is renter’s insurance. We tell tenants what that insurance policy needs to contain. We also require that we are named as an additional insured. If all of this is taken care of ahead of time and filed in our office, the move in goes much smoother.
Move In Inspection
Next it’s time for the actual move in. We meet the tenants the night before or the morning of their move, and our process takes about an hour. This is an inspection. We let the tenants into the property and have them go through the property and check everything. It’s important to make sure the lights work. They run the water, flush the toilets, make sure the drains are going. They turn on the stove and the shower and they test everything so they are aware that everything is working. We also document the condition of the property, including the professionally cleaned carpet and the newly painted walls.
There are pictures taken of everything. We keep those photos in the file and provide copies of the inspection report to the tenants and the owner. This gives everyone a documented report of the condition of the property. The tenants know we expect it to look the same way at move out.
Tenant Education
This is a good opportunity to educate the tenants. We tell them about changing the furnace filter and its importance to the longevity of the furnace. We will show them how to maintain the garbage disposal and turn off the water at the main in case there’s a leak or a flood. Try to educate them as much as possible about the property.
Finally, we change the locks while the tenants are there. They have a good sense of security and peace of mind that no one else has the keys. It’s a new key made specifically for them.
This is our move in process. If you have any questions, please
contact us at ES Property Management. We’d be happy to tell you more about our tenant onboarding process or talk about anything pertaining to
property management in Indianapolis.
