{"id":45596,"date":"2013-07-08T05:33:21","date_gmt":"2013-07-08T11:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/renewsblog\/?p=45596"},"modified":"2021-03-16T10:08:41","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T16:08:41","slug":"2013-07-08-tenant-move-in-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/2013-07-08-tenant-move-in-process","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Just Hand Them The Keys, Use A Tenant Move In Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your property is move in ready.\u00a0 You have shown it to several potential tenants.\u00a0 You have screened<\/a> your applicants and selected the person that best fits your criteria.\u00a0 Now all you need to do is give them the keys and let them move in right?\u00a0 Wrong.\u00a0 Now is the time for the tenant move-in process which is almost as important as the tenant screening process.\u00a0 The move in process is the time you get everything in writing, set out the ground rules and lay the groundwork to get your property back in great condition.<\/p>\n

Here are four things to do before giving your tenant the keys.<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Read the tenant the lease and house rules, word for word.<\/b>\u00a0 Ask you new tenant to set aside about an hour to attend a lease signing meeting. Ideally you would have a private office to conduct this meeting but any quite location will do.\u00a0 During this meeting, read them the lease and the house rules word for word and have them initial and sign the more important clauses.\u00a0 Some have even gone to interactive computer\/videos here, but we are not quite that advanced yet.<\/li>\n
  2. Give them a move-in\/move-out checklist.<\/b>\u00a0 Such a checklist will show the date the tenant moved in and have spaces for the tenant to note any damages or other issues with the property that they notice upon their move in.\u00a0 Ideally, this checklist will have several carbon copies so the tenant can keep one and return the remainder to you after move in.\u00a0 You can then use that same checklist when they move out to check for further damages that may have been caused by the tenant.<\/li>\n
  3. Provide them with a repair cost list.\u00a0 <\/b>Give your new tenant a list of charges that could be deducted from their security deposit when they move out.\u00a0 Leave a burned out light bulb, that is a $10 charge.\u00a0 Leave some spoons and forks in the kitchen drawer, another $10.\u00a0 Mini-blind replacements run $20 each.\u00a0 Major repairs are billed at cost of materials and labor.\u00a0 The idea here is to get them thinking at the very beginning to treat your property with respect since they know they will be charged later on if they do not.\u00a0 Your goal is to get the property back in as close to rent ready condition as possible. \u00a0Give them the same list again when they provide notice they are moving.<\/li>\n
  4. Make a video of the property.\u00a0 <\/b>Smart phones are ubiquitous these days, use yours to make a video of the property with the tenant there upon move in if possible.\u00a0 You can use this video later on to show the condition of the property upon move in.\u00a0 Nothing speaks volumes or settles disputes better than a video.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The point of these four procedures is to protect your valuable assets by setting the tone with your tenants from the very beginning.\u00a0 Show them that you are a respectable landlord, that runs their business well and that you expect them to treat your property as if it was their own.\u00a0 Doing some work on the front end at move in can really save you some time and money on the back end after move out.<\/p>\n

    Photo: Josa J\u00fanior<\/a><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Your property is move in ready.\u00a0 You have shown it to several potential tenants.\u00a0 You have screened your applicants and selected the person that best fits your criteria.\u00a0 Now all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5183],"tags":[190,1606,4826,59,569],"class_list":["post-45596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-landlording","tag-landlord","tag-landlording","tag-move-in-process","tag-real-estate-investing","tag-tenant"],"acf":[],"comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}