by Mary Anne Ragragio
Posted on 2019-07-26 20:17:01
When a Tenant Makes Improvements
Tenant improvement is one of the biggest and important factors of negotiation in terms of the lease agreement. Landlords consider the importance of building a good relationship with their residents while entering with the lease agreement because residents help you build your network. The more happy tenants you have, the more positive feedback and reviews they can provide about your business. Home improvements are normally done by landlords because it is one of the landlord’s responsibilities, to provide tenants with habitable premises. However, sometimes tenants ask to make some improvements to the place they are going to rent.
Anytime a tenant makes a permanent improvement to the property, they could be violating the lease agreement and can create a number of different issues for the landlord. Challenges sometimes come when tenants made improvements on your rental property. That means when a tenant makes permanent improvement especially when a landlord doesn’t give the permission, only proves that tenant doesn’t have the respect to the landlord and on the lease agreement. There are tenants who take things a lot further and create permanent improvements to the property that leads to broken lease agreement clauses.
The question is, should you let tenants make their own improvements? If tenant request for improvement which sounds terrible, don't be afraid to say "no". That's why a good lease agreement should have a clause that prohibits tenants to make changes to the property. If in case the landlord will allow the tenant to make any improvements; it should be restored to the original condition.
What happens when a tenant makes a permanent home improvement without the landlord’s permission? Tenant’s permanent improvement is actually not permissible unless the landlord approved it. If in case, the tenant did some permanent improvement, a landlord should act immediately and send a letter or email to let the tenant know that you are aware of the alteration and remind them that any changes to the property are a violation of the lease.
On the other hand, the rental property needs improvement from time to time. So it is important that landlords perform a regular routine inspection to their property. In most cases, the landlord will keep some or all of the security deposit to cover the cost of any improvement. It is always recommended by some landlords that before tenant signs the lease, remind them to check the lease and ask you as their landlord that the steps they want to do to make your house more of home are permissible.
Whatever the landlord decides to do, it is important that you address the issue of the tenant improvements in the lease.
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