The question of how often to inspect rental property is one we get from landlords quite often. At Gordon Property Management, we inspect all of our buildings once a year. We go through each of the units in every building and take a detailed look at how they are being maintained. We check smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, making sure they work and replacing them if necessary. We check batteries and change them when needed.
Annual inspections are also a good opportunity for us to look for issues that may not have been reported by tenants. There may be water leaks, running faucets or other issues that tenants might have thought were too minor to report. As a landlord you’ll find you have two types of tenants; those who contact you about every little thing and those who almost never contact you. You really want to pay attention to the tenants who rarely call. Those are the units you really want to check out and see what kind of shape those units are in.
During the annual inspection, you should also be looking for small repairs that can be made today that will prevent big repairs and problems down the line. You can prevent emergencies by taking care of maintenance and repairs early. That’s one reason why it’s really important to inspect once a year.
Sometimes, people will want to inspect more than once a year. We think that gets a little intrusive for the tenants. You’ll also find that going into a property more than once a year is not terribly productive.
After our inspection, we create a detailed report that includes pictures. This gives the property owners an opportunity to see how the property looks. We can make recommendations on what should be done right away and we also point out what needs to be on the financial horizon. For example, if the paint is starting to peel, you’ll want to start planning for that expense.
If you have any questions about inspections, or how to conduct them, please contact us at Gordon Property Management, and we’d be happy to share some additional information with you.
Depending on the type of property you own I agree it can be unproductive to inspect a property more than once a year. Appreciate the nugget of info to watch out for the tenants who rarely call. If you’d like some of my insight on this same topic check it out at https://blog.davepoletti.com/2014/01/15/property-inspection-seattle-landlords/