When it comes to your lease agreement, there are a few really important considerations you should have as a landlord. One that often gets overlooked is who actually owns what in the apartment or rental home, and is that clearly delineated in the lease?
Having a strong lease agreement – one that clearly specifies all the rules, procedures, responsibilities, and ownership related to renting the property – is essential to protecting both yourself as a landlord and your tenant.
Why You Need to Specify Property Ownership in Your Lease
An important component of the lease agreement that frequently gets forgotten is related to property ownership – and specifically appliances.
While it may seem obvious to you that the refrigerator, dishwasher, and range are provided by you, the owner, and are to stay with the house, you may be surprised to find that many default lease templates don’t offer a spot for you to clearly state that. Then, when an issue arises, you have no way of effectively enforcing it since it is not in the lease.
At RL Property Management Group, we encourage all landlords to specifically outline appliances in the lease agreement and note who owns what. That way if a tenant is backing up with the moving truck and preparing to haul away the refrigerator, you can point to the lease agreement and say, “Hold on, right here you signed that we actually own that refrigerator, and it has to stay with the rental unit.”
Conversely, if you chose to offer rental units without appliances for one reason or another, you also want to specify that. The lease should note that the appliances belong to the tenant and you want them to take the refrigerator and range or whatever appliances they own with them when they move out so they are not leaving non-functional appliances at your property.
In Columbus, ownership of property can be easy to overlook in a lease agreement and most standard lease templates don’t have a space for this by default; however, it is really important to protect yourself as a property owner by clearly spelling out who owns what in your lease. For other important lease terms to include in your agreements, be sure to also read this blog post.
If you have questions about lease agreements or general questions about property management in Ohio, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at RL Property Management Group. Our team has decades of experience and is ready to help you improve your rental experience.
