What can the Landlord expect prior to your Tenant’s Lease being renewing on Outer Banks Long Term rental home?
Outer Banks Long Term Rental homes managed by OBX Housing are leased on a minimum 12-month lease basis. About 60 days before the lease expires, we will contact your Tenant to find out if they wish to renew their lease, or if they plan to turn in a Notice to Vacate on your home which is their responsibility under the terms and conditions of the Residential Rental Contract which is their Lease. If they plan to renew, we schedule a Renewal Inspection at the home which involves one of our Brokers going to the home to evaluate how the Tenant is taking care of the property as well as if any maintenance or upkeep is required. During many of these inspections, we find exterior siding, decks, and steps need pressure washing. This is an expense you can normally expect every 2 to 3 years. We also will look for visible signs of issues with your roof and/or siding and gutters as well as tree trimming and/or shrub pruning. Many times we find vines growing into the outdoor unit of the HVAC system that must be removed in order for it to operate properly. We go through the house and take photos both inside and out and then we publish the Inspection Report to your Owner Portal so that you can see all of our comments and documentation of any items that need your attention now or in the future.
The Landlord will receive an email advising that an Inspection Report has been published to your Owner Portal. If you do not have access to email or the Owner Portal we then call and discuss these items with you by phone. We are able to get estimates for you of any work that needs to be considered. We will talk to you about your Tenant and how they are taking care of your home. At that time we will discuss with you their payment history and possible rental increase as well as any changes to their family or marital status that may affect the rent payments.
We do not recommend that you permit your Tenant to go “month to month” because many of the leases only require a 30-day notice to vacate which is not beneficial to the Landlord because getting the home re-rented so that the Landlord will not suffer a loss of revenue is difficult in just 30 days. If an agreement were negotiated to permit your Tenant to stay on a month to month lease (for example they are building or buying a home) we would recommend they sign an addendum with a rent increase and provide they give a 60-day Notice to Vacate.
If your Tenant were to submit a Notice to Vacate we would contact you regarding securing a new Tenant as well as new Lease rental rates and terms and immediate post the home to our website, Facebook and the many other online media marketing sites we use. Our specialized software provides us with 82 marketing sites!