As a rental property owner in Catonsville, it’s principally important to understand your responsibilities in the occurrence of major storms and natural disasters that can elicit extensive damage. This constitutes assimilating how to handle the potential damage or wreckage of your residents’ personal property.
Who is responsible for damage resulting from a disaster?
It’s a common misconception that any damage caused by a storm or natural disaster is exclusively the property owner’s responsibility. But basically, both renters and rental property owners have liabilities as concerns property damage. Knowing exactly these liabilities is an important part of being prepared for and recovering from misfortune.
For a case in point, majority of rental properties feature one or more large trees around the home’s exterior. If a tree on your rental property falls down during a storm and disfigures a vehicle belonging to a resident, whose responsibility is it to cover the cost of repairs? In this state, paying for the damage is not your responsibility. In actual fact, the resident’s auto or renter’s insurance should cover the cost of properly fixing the resident’s car.
What about other types of damage caused by a natural disaster?
Floods, wildfires, tornados, and more are all potential events that rental property owners and residents may face sometimes. In the unfortunate event of a natural disaster damaging a rental property, it is the legal obligation of the property owner to ensure that the living conditions of the property are safe and habitable for the tenants. On top of that, the property owner is moreover financially responsible for determining and covering the expenses related to the repair work required to restore the property to a habitable state.
At the same time, the resident’s personal property, like vehicles, the cost of transportation arising from an evacuation, lodging, food, and other expenses are all the resident’s responsibility. As long as the property is suitably returned to a habitable state within a short period, the resident may still be responsible for the lease terms. They must have sufficient renter’s insurance to cover needing, for the time being, alternative accommodations and to properly protect their personal belongings in case of damage or loss. Urging your tenants to do so may save you both plenty of added headache in the event of a disaster.
How to stay prepared as a landlord
As a landlord, it is beneficial to prioritize disaster preparedness. All disasters can drastically impact your rental properties and tenants. To completely ensure the safety and security of your properties, think about implementing a total property risk assessment, acquiring full insurance coverage, and implementing preventative measures such as reinforcing vulnerable areas, securing loose objects, and putting on surge protectors.
Proactively developing a comprehensive disaster preparedness plan and clearly communicating evacuation routes and emergency contacts to your tenants are beneficial steps you can take. Putting in place protocols for securing the property also contributes to effective disaster preparedness, suitably safeguarding your rental properties and the well-being of your tenants, in the end.
At Real Property Management Prime, we are keen to help Catonsville rental property owners like you navigate the tough consequences of natural disasters and other weather-related incidents. Contact us online or call us at 410-415-1736 today to discover more in connection with how we can provide you with the appropriate guidance and support you need.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
