Tips & Advice from Experience
Recently, Colorado law regarding the right of a tenant to a safe and functional rental dwelling was expanded to include new criteria for when a landlord must act on a quick timeline to solve certain maintenance issues and stricter remedies, such as when the landlord is required to pay for a hotel room for a renter experiencing an habitability maintenance issue.
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Some tips. - Know the location of your electric breaker box and how to reset a breaker. - Know the location of water shut off knobs for toilets and sinks. - Make sure to open the fireplace flue before starting a fire. Fireplace tools—especially big tongs and a poker—are important safety items to have in the house if you use your fireplace.
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Clean “top to bottom” – clean things that are up high first. Bend over and look from a kneeling position so you can make sure you get everything below eye-level equally sparkling clean. Every surface…
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More Bad Practices At least a few of the big corporate Boulder area residential rental management companies have a practice that I believe should be debated in a court of law. These companies don’t…
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This is a guest blog written by Brandi McConnell. Brandi is, hands down, the best cleaner with whom I’ve ever had the pleasure of working. Brandi recently indulged my request that she share her…
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Colorado legislators continue to increase tenant rights with more new laws that affect landlords and their licensed property managers serving Colorado residents. Laws that have taken or will soon…
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Some property management companies and landlords in the Boulder area have, over the years, gotten to the point that they are now asking renters about renewal ten months in advance of the next least…
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Most relationships for property management last for years, so it’s good to ask any property manager you may hire an array of important questions. In addition to addressing things specifically…
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Know These New Laws or Risk Running Afoul Colorado has steadily been fine-tuning and increasing tenant rights over the course of the last few years. We’ve seen bills limiting the amount of late fees…
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Organic Lawn Care is the Right Thing to Do Most property management companies want to do what is easiest and, supposedly, tried-and-true in regard to lawn care. That means that the vast majority if…
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Recent additions to federal laws about fair housing have made it so that people with mental or emotional disabilities can force a landlord to make exceptions to No Pet policies and demand that…
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Though there is no legal requirement in Colorado that landlords provide window shades, all of my clients have agreed to provide window coverings or curtain rods. Most provide simple slatted blinds,…
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There is a lot of hysteria about mold and I believe most of it is unfounded. Mold that causes reactions in some people does indeed exist. However most mold is totally harmless and is no danger. Sure…
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My feeling is that checking a person's past legal issues leads to a slippery slope of possible discrimination. What do you do with that info? What if it's a 10-year-old case of, say, vandalism done…
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I have a sheet I give new tenants called “Basic Things Renters Should Know” that helps explain things like how to reset a breaker or a garbage disposal. Since a lot of my tenants are new to living…
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Bad tenants are inevitable. No matter how well I vet applicants sometimes a tenant’s bad behavior can’t be foreseen. I’ve had two sets of tenants who, in hindsight, I regretting not evicting early in…
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I take very seriously my responsibility to be fair and reasonable about charges out of a security deposit. One important document for a new tenancy that helps this effort is a “move-in condition…
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I dislike garbage disposals with a burning passion. They seem to be mostly a phenomenon in the United States. But dear ones, life elsewhere without a garbage disposal is just fine. In rentals I…
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There are certain things that seem to fall through the cracks in regard to preventive maintenance at rental properties. Things like inspecting roofs, exterior siding and maintaining trees are things…
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When an apartment or house is coming on the market for rental there are a few things I do to make sure that it is priced accurately for the market and in line with the owner's wishes, assuming those…
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Water Heaters!! Most water heaters die right around 10 – 12 years. For properties with unusual water heaters, such as electric (vs. gas), I recommend pre-emptively replacing a water heater if it has…
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