Can Tenant Leave Property Vacant?

Can A Tenant Leave A Property Vacant-

Casey’s question: He is concern about accepting a tenant that states he travels a lot. Casey’s concern being that the property gets damaged in some way if a furnace breaks or if a pipe breaks and nobody’s there it could be catastrophic.

That’s a valid concern. But if you have a lease from which ever source, whether online or from your local realtor association that they are actually usable for the general public, then it very likely has built in that the tenant has be has to occupy the property. Generally, it defines how much they have to occupy the property so that they can’t travel for extensive periods of time. That is very important because during the winter time, furnaces die, and when the furnace dies and no one’s there to know it, then the pipes will freeze. And then once the pipes freeze, they’ll burst and the damage could be catastrophic.

Some of these issues are covered under your property insurance, some of it’s covered under the tenant insurance, but definitely make sure that it’s built into the lease and the tenant is aware of that. We do take extra energy here as a property management company, to let the tenants know what’s in their lease just so they’re aware. A lease/contract can never, ever be ambiguous and it has to be very clear to begin with. Therefore, you can go ahead and use legal words, and we do, but in our leases, we always go ahead and we kind of give a quick summary of what that big word means to make it clear for a tenant. And then we extend to make that we give them a quick breakdown as to the expectation of both parties. There’s also a valid reason why we actually need the tenant available on the property because if a pipe burst, it is going to be catastrophic.

Double check your lease to make sure all clauses are included. Good luck!!!

Author:

Joe White

Joe White is a Philadelphia Property Manager and Real Estate Broker. He is the owner of Grow Property Management and has been involved in the management, sales and purchases of Philadelphia area rental investment properties since 2008. He is an author and works as a real estate investment consultant and construction manager.

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