LandlordOS
HOAOS
PraxiOSMost problems new landlords run into come from things that weren’t set up before the first lease was signed: no written criteria, rent paid into a personal account, no record of the unit’s condition. Each item below takes an afternoon or less, and together they turn a rental into a small business you can run calmly.
Protect the business
1. Get landlord insurance
A homeowner’s policy usually doesn’t cover a home you rent out. A landlord (dwelling fire) policy covers the building and your liability as a landlord, and can cover lost rent after a covered loss. Tell your insurer the property is now a rental.
2. Open a separate bank account
Run all rent, deposits and expenses through an account used only for the rental. It makes your books and your taxes far simpler, and if you hold the property in an LLC, keeping funds separate is part of keeping that structure meaningful. Some states also require security deposits to be held in a particular kind of account.
3. Learn your local rules
Check for rental registration or licensing, required inspections, security deposit limits and return deadlines, notice periods, late-fee limits and any rent regulation. Your city or county housing department and your state’s landlord-tenant law are the places to start.
Set up the tenancy
4. Write a lease that fits your state
Use a lease written for your state, and read it. It should cover rent, the due date and grace period, accepted payment methods, late and returned-payment fees as your law allows, the deposit, utilities, maintenance responsibilities, entry notice, pets and how the lease ends.
5. Put your screening criteria in writing
Decide your income, rental-history and other standards before you list the unit, and apply them to every applicant in the same way. Our guide on how to screen tenants walks through the process and the fair-housing rules.
6. Document the unit’s condition
Walk through the unit before move-in with dated photos and a written checklist, and have the tenant sign it. That record is what settles deposit questions a year later. Use our move-in / move-out inspection checklist.
Get paid and keep records
7. Choose how rent gets paid
Collect rent online by bank transfer and ask every tenant to set up autopay; it is cheaper than cards and keeps rent on time. Our post on ACH vs card for rent compares the costs.
8. Decide your late-rent process
Write down when rent is late, the fee your lease and local law allow, and the reminders you will send. Then follow it the same way every month.
9. Keep tax-ready books from day one
Record every dollar in and out, by property, in the categories you will report on Schedule E. Keep receipts. Our list of rental property expense categories shows what goes where.
Look after the property
10. Make it easy to report repairs
Give tenants one way to report problems, with photos, and a separate number for emergencies such as leaks, no heat or gas smells. Repairs that are reported early are cheaper.
11. Build a short list of vendors
Find a plumber, an electrician, an HVAC technician and a handyperson before you need one, and confirm they are licensed and insured where your state requires it. Ask each contractor for a Form W-9 before the first job.
12. Set aside money for repairs
Put part of each month’s rent into a repair reserve. Roofs, water heaters and appliances wear out on a schedule; the reserve keeps one of them from becoming a crisis. A seasonal rental maintenance checklist helps you catch problems early.
How LandlordOS helps
LandlordOS covers most of this list on every plan: leases and the tenant portal, rental applications, online rent by ACH with autopay, automatic late fees by lease, and transactions by Schedule E category. Standard and Premium add maintenance requests, lease e-signing and inspections with photos. Its landlord insurance page can request a quote from Steadily for your own property coverage.