permission for any other adult to move in, and that that person must go through the screening process.
18. Property Maintenance Standards
Determine your standards for property maintenance and have that clearly detailed in the lease. One obvious piece is that the tenant can’t cause actual damage to your property or else they’ll face penalties/consequences, which should be written out. But what about general property maintenance and cleanliness? What about lawn-mowing and basic landscaping? If you allow pets, what about cleaning up after them? To what extent will you require these items, and what happens if the tenant doesn’t follow through? If you don’t stipulate the specifics in your lease, your tenant can essentially get away with not doing what you want them to do. If it’s not spelled out in the lease, it’s open to interpretation by a judge. Some specific areas of property maintenance (besides property damage, cleanliness, and landscaping) to stipulate in your lease include: • Pools and sprinkler systems. If you have a pool on your property, think about who’s going to clean and maintain it and ensure its safety. You’ll need to protect yourself from the horrific possibility that a neighborhood kid could wander on to your property, go for a swim, and drown. You don’t want this to happen for several reasons, but one is your own liability. Suddenly you could have a huge lawsuit on your hands because you didn’t include this in your lease. Further, if you have a sprinkler system, you
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