As a Philadelphia Property Management Company, our lease is perhaps the most important document we use. It is the legal agreement between my company and our tenant. An attachment to that lease, and therefore a part of that legal agreement is a set of house rules. The house rules are just what you think they are. Rules you will live by while you live in our house.
Furthermore: Not Renewing Lease
Basic Rental House Rules
Some of the rental house rules are pretty basic. Things you would expect to find. Such as:
- No illegal drugs
- Keep your rental unit clean
- Take the trash out regularly
- The lockout procedure
- Notifying us if you plan to be away for longer than two weeks.
Some Basic Rental House Rules That You Need To Spell Out
With some of the rental house rules, I am amazed that there has to be a rule. You would think this stuff would be common sense, but oh no, you need to spell it out for some. Things like:
- Every month you will pay your rent first, then utilities, and then other bills.
- Even if bad things happen to you or your roommates, your rent is still due on the first of every month.
- You are responsible for getting your rent to your property management company on time.
- You must lock your doors to prevent crime.
- We are not responsible for utility outages due to storms.
Rules We Added Over The Years
When we first started out in the Philadelphia Property Management Service, we had developed what we thought was a pretty good set of rental house rules. Boy, were we mistaken.
It seems like every year we have to add a new clause or rule because we have experienced something new and unexpected. Who would have thought that we would have to add rules like:
- Don’t put things down the drain – any drain!
- No candles inside. No grills inside!
- No inside furniture outside.
- We do not negotiate between roommates.
- If you get broken into, call the police FIRST!
- No satellite dishes without our approval. Otherwise, there will be 47 of them on your front porch!
It’s funny, at lease signings when we are going over the house rules some tenants will ask “Did that really happen?”
I am sure as we continue in this business we will have to further add to our house rules as tenants can be quite “creative.” So for now, we call our house rules a work in progress.
