You may think that your landlord insurance policy will protect you no matter what goes wrong in your Philadelphia rental property. Unfortunately, covering your rental property is more complicated than that. A landlord insurance policy may save you thousands of dollars, but it turns out renters liability insurance could save you thousands more.

What is Renters Liability Insurance?

Renters liability insurance is a portion of renters insurance. Renters insurance includes personal property protection for tenants, liability protection for tenants, protection from increased living expenses, and guest medical protection. The liability protection is of primary interest to landlords like you because it can end up saving both you and your tenant a lot of money. If your tenant was responsible for flooding the bathroom after forgetting to turn off the faucet, they would be held liable for the damages (the warped flooring, the bathtub that crashed into the downstairs living room, whatever the case may be.) Renters insurance would cover the cost associated with that liability up to $100,000 (for most plans.)

What Does My Landlord Insurance Cover?

Landlord insurance does not cover the situation listed above. Instead, landlord insurance protects you if one of your tenants or their guests steal from you, if a tenant or guest intentionally damages or vandalizes the rental property, if you lose rent because of tenant default, or if you are asked to pay legal expenses to evict a tenant. So how do you protect yourself against damages that are accidentally caused by renters?

Should I Require My Tenants Have It?

If the forgetful tenant from a few paragraphs up had not had renter’s insurance, they would have been expected to pay out the damages caused by the flooding and the falling bathtub in full. That sounds alright. You still are not responsible for paying the damages, your tenant is! Unfortunately, your tenant might not be able to pay off the damages in full. The added financial strain could lead to them paying rent late or even defaulting on their lease. If the tenant had renters insurance, the insurance would cover the damages of the flood and the fallen bathtub up to $100,000 (or whatever the policy amount may be.) The tenant is no longer responsible for the repair costs and can continue to pay their rent on time. So now you see why renters insurance is beneficial. Many landlords require that tenants have renters insurance by including a clause about it in the lease agreement. This is an excellent way to ensure your tenant’s (relative) financial stability.

If you need help adding a renters insurance clause to your current lease, or if you need help drafting an entirely new lease, Keyrenter Main Line will step up to the plate. We would love to help you make the most out of your rental property, and you can’t do that if your tenants don’t have renters insurance. Give us a call and find out what we can do for you today.

Have you been on the fence about hiring a property management company to help you? Property managers are beneficial as they do tend to remove the day-to-day stress that comes with managing tenants and keeping up with property maintenance needs. However, understanding how to find a good property manager can be a challenge. How does property management work? What can you do to ensure you are hiring the best property management company? Keyrenter has put together a guide to help you understand how property management works.

Rent Collection

Who loves to collect rent? One of the largest headaches for landlords is getting their tenants to pay on time. If you struggle with rent collection, consider hiring a property management company to deal with this frustration. Collecting rent isn’t easy by any means, but it is easier to do when you have a dedicated company handling it. Keyrenter has years of experience dealing with rent collection, and we have proven results! We work hard to ensure our clients are paid on time and the tenants can pay rent on time and in full. We provide several payment options to help renters make ends meet. If you find you are constantly battling to get rent payments, it’s time to hire a property manager.

Maintenance Calls

Another irritating issue landlords need to worry about is dealing with annoying maintenance calls. From small water leaks to broken door knobs, dealing with maintenance tasks can be stressful. Hiring a property management company allows you to avoid the stress. Property management companies will take care of all maintenance calls, yes even the ones in the middle of the night! Dealing with tenant maintenance is one of the biggest aspects of being a property manager. Tenants are always pushing to have maintenance done now, which can be challenging for a landlord. Outsourcing to property managers will allow landlords to avoid dealing with repairs that may be outside their skillset. Plus, you do not need to worry about forming bad relationships with tenants if you are unable to fix their issue immediately.

Not only do property managers handle maintenance calls, they set up a schedule for maintenance. Caring for appliances, HVAC systems, and more will help to avoid costly repairs in the future. Regular property maintenance is essential to keeping the property looking nice but also making it a great place to live. As a landlord, you want to provide your tenants with a nice, comfortable home. Since maintenance can be hard, it is much easier to let property management firms tackle this area.

Finding Tenants

What happens when someone leaves the property? There is a lot of work that needs to be done to the property to prepare it to be rented again. Marketing efforts to find quality tenants can become expensive and a lot of landlords do not know where to begin. Property Management companies will be able to help in this area as they do all the marketing, tenant screening, and tenant selection. There is a lot of work that goes into sourcing tenants, trust Keyrenter to undertake this burden for you. We have years of experience recruiting and maintaining tenants.

Evictions

One of the most difficult tasks for a landlord is to deal with a tenant that needs to be evicted. Do you know the legal procedure to evict someone? How long does an eviction take? What happens if the tenant will not vacate the premises? Dealing with just a few questions here show us the importance of hiring someone that knows what to do with evictions.

Bookkeeping

If you do not have a bookkeeping system in place, you could be placing your finances at risk. Hiring Keyrenter is a smart decision if you want a team of professionals to handle the cash flow. The other benefit is how easy property management companies like Keyrenter make it to file taxes.

Property management companies are one of the greatest options for landlords who are ready to move forward without the stress and frustration that comes with owning rental property. How does property management work? Contact our office today if you want to find out!