How to communicate officially wit my first inspection as landlord

Question

Being a first time landlord inspecting property for the first time raises few glitches and below are those. Need suggestion on how to communicate effectively to tenant by maintaining no law break. Property is located in California.
1. Lease had a condition to maintain the garden, if not maintained, the landlord will hire a gardener at the tenant's expense. After 18 months during my first visit I have observed the backyard is not maintained, few sprinklers are not working etc. What should I be doing?
2. Lease also had tenants to mandatorily have renters insurance throughout tenancy. Tenant provided me 1 month's renters insurance before they moved in and after that I didn't ask for it, but during inspection, I do reveal that the tenant didn't carry renters insurance throughout the last 18 months. Other than my ask for them to carry future renters insurance, what should be done for the past period for which they breached the contract? Would that be treated as low priority to ask for?
3. They have placed a dish network (through dish tv) on the outside of the wall and I do see a very minor crack. What should I communicate? I have shown all those in front of my tenant, but haven't prepared an official report as of yet.
4. Tenant was provided with a few fire extinguishers, two carbon monoxide cum smoke detectors which were affixed to the wall. During inspection those were missing and the tenant was not able to tell where those fire extinguishers were and also have given a vague explanation of smoke cum carbon monoxide detector not working or was making sound and due to that they had to remove it without replacing batteries.
5. The garage was given with epoxy coating, now it looks like a lot of stains. Should I ask to be cleaned or not required.

Any idea / what should I ask for or what I described above can be ignored would be super helpful.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

@Debasish Bhattacharjee

The lawn and DISH antenna are lease violations that will cost you money. You should notify the tenant of the violation - in writing - and give them XX days to correct the violation and submit to a reinspection to verify compliance. If they fail to comply, then you can choose to terminate their lease or hire contractors to handle the work and bill the tenants (they probably won't pay) or whatever.

Your experience with renters insurance is common. The solution is to have them sign up for renters insurance and name you as "additional interest" on the policy. That means the insurer will provide you copies of notices any time something changes with the policy. If the tenant tries to cancel it or lapses in their payment, you will receive notice. Again, you can charge the tenant with a violation if they cancel it, but that probably isn't enough to force them to terminate.

You really should be inspecting at least once a year, and I recommend twice during the first year when you are most likely going to have problems.

Carl Millsap · Answer

@Debasish Bhattacharjee consult your lawyer and local laws before implementing any of the suggestions below.

1. Anything you expect should be in your lease. i.e. tenants can't attach anything to the building w/o written permission is a violation of the lease.

2. Is renter's insurance a requirement of the lease? When you require renter's insurance, also require that you are listed as an additional insured on the policy. The insurance company will list you (your company) on the policy. When the policy gets renewed or cancelled you'll automatically get a notification.

If it's in the lease and they don't maintain it, it's a violation of the lease. The consequences should be spelled out.

3. If there is damage to the property caused by the tenant give them written notice to fix it, if they don't fix it deduct the repair cost from their deposit.

4. If the property isn't being maintained to your satisfaction when their lease is up provide them sufficient notice that you will not renew their lease.

Consider, everyone's standard of maintenance isn't the same. You may want the garden maintained to a level as if you are living in the property. For the tenant maintaining the garden is simply ensuring weeds aren't growing in it and the grass is cut.

Your lease should communicate your expectation. If it's not in writing it doesn't count.

Don't forget....talk to your lawyer, have them review your lease to ensure it complies with local and State laws.

How to communicate officially wit my first inspection as landlord

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