Home & Garden

There are few things more inconvenient for landlords than troublesome tenants, and a tenant has few bigger nightmares than a neglectful or abusive landlord. While relationships between landlords and tenants may not always be perfect, maintaining a respectful and cooperative relationship is in the best interest of both parties. Having each party understand the responsibilities they have to one another is a great step to ensuring a positive relationship. The following are the basics.

Habitability

The implied warranty of habitability is a landlord’s most basic responsibility. This is meant to ensure that any rented space is habitable, even if the landlord isn’t explicitly stated to be responsible for repairs. This warranty ensures that all rentals are clean and safe and have a functioning heating system and hot water.

Safety

Keeping up with safety codes is another basic responsibility for landlords. Different states and cities may have some differing codes, but there are some things that are universal. For example, any buildings built before 1978 must come with a notice warning tenants about lead paint, and mold must always be removed.

Occupancy standards will differ to an extent based on location, but the general rule of “two persons per bedroom” is considered reasonable by most. These standards are important to follow if a larger family is trying to rent a small space. Common areas such as hallways, laundry rooms, and stairways must also be kept safe at all times, and light bulbs or any other items that may need replacing in these areas are the landlord’s responsibility.

Landlords are also required to keep smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in each unit. The amount that must be placed can vary based on state laws, but there are always basics to follow, such as placing detectors in sleeping areas.

Maintenance and repairs

Landlords are responsible for a wide variety of maintenance tasks for rental properties. Following a monthly extermination process for rodents and insects is important. Even if there are currently no signs of an infestation, you’ll still need to follow your routine to prevent one. The price of monthly extermination crews will be significantly cheaper than the price of losing multiple tenants over pest problems.

Checking for leaks and water damages should also be a monthly routine. It’s also worthwhile to check shortly after a heavy storm or after snow and ice has melted. Detecting water damage early is vital to prevent the spread of damage and the buildup of mold. Sinks, boilers, and water heaters should also be checked for leaks.

It’s crucial to properly check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Carbon monoxide detectors have an average lifespan of five years, while smoke detectors typically have ten. Still, due to the importance of these devices, they should be checked monthly. Filters in the air and heating systems should also be replaced at least twice a year to prevent malfunctions.

Insurance

Insurance is a responsibility that both landlords and tenants may have. A landlord is responsible for maintaining the insurance on the rental property as a whole. Lenders will generally require proof of insurance before approving a loan for a rental property as well. Tenants are generally responsible for covering renter’s insurance for their own items, although some landlords may choose to require tenants to have renter’s insurance to avoid disputes.

Tenant responsibilities

Tenants are generally obligated to ensure the rental property stays clean and in good condition. Damages or other issues caused by a tenant’s actions are paid for by the tenant. Tenants may also become liable if they fail to alert the landlord to problems with the rental that result in preventable damages. Misuse of rooms, failure to remove trash, pet policy violations, and removing fixtures such as lights or appliances are all potential liabilities for the tenant.

Landlord software

Overall, landlords have far more responsibilities for rental properties than tenants, and it can be difficult to keep track of all of them. Landlord software, such as that provided by Turbo Tenant, can be incredibly useful. Such software allows you to keep track of potential tenants, advertise your property, communicate with current tenants, and store your records, all in one place. The life of a landlord is often stressful, but it can be more easily managed.

To read more on topics like this, check out the home & garden category.

Whether you’ve just moved into a new place or you’re ready for a change in the home you’ve lived in for years, everyone finds themselves looking to redesign every now and then. But just because you’re ready for a change doesn’t necessarily mean that you know how or what to change.

In situations like this, it can be helpful to use the services of an interior designer. However, you can easily make some design changes on your own if you know what you’re doing and have a plan in place for execution. So to help you with this, here are three tips for redesigning the interior of your home on your own.

Find Your Own Style

The very first thing you should do when attempting to redesign the interior of your home is to find out what your own design style is. This can vary drastically from person to person, so it’s worth your while to spend some time really figuring out what you like and what you don’t like.

According to Grant K. Gibson, a contributor to Time.com, if you’re really struggling to figure out what your interior design style is, you might want to start by taking a look in your closet. See if the majority of the clothes in your closet are tailored and structured or if you’re more into flowy, relaxed silhouettes. You can also see if there’s a color or pattern that you seem to be more drawn to.

With this information, you should be able to get a better idea of what your overall style is.

Make Your Rooms Lighter And Larger

Regardless of the size of your home, no one ever wants to make their spaces appear smaller or more cramped. Luckily, you can easily make the rooms in your home appear larger and lighter without having to make a change to your floor plan.

The best way to do this, according to Jessica Gordon Ryan, a contributor to Freshome.com, is to make your rooms appear lighter in both their overall color and in the amount of light in the space. To do this, consider painting your rooms a lighter color that reflects a lot of light back into the space. And for an ever more reflective result, try installing mirrors around the room as well.

Go For Length

Another way you can design your rooms to make them appear bigger and taller is to put the right pieces of furniture in the right places.

Caroline Picard, Lauren Smith, Sienna Livermore, and Kathryn O’Shea Evans, contributors to HouseBeautiful.com, share that by using taller pieces of furniture rather than longer pieces of furniture, you can make the ceiling of your rooms appear taller. This can add some much needed height to your space and make everything appear bigger and more open.

If you’re wanting to redesign your home to make your rooms appear fresher, bigger, and lighter, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you do just that.

 

If you’re on the hunt for a few handy house hacks, continue reading to discover 9 crafty house tips that you’ll fall in love with.

Creative House Tips To Try Out:

1. Place a foam pipe in the gap between the wall and your washing machine. If you continually have small pieces of clothes such as socks fall into the gap between your washing machine and the wall, simply place a foam pipe in the gap and you’ll never have to worry about having items fall into the gap next to your washing machine again.

2. Paint your house key a different color using a nail polish. If you find it hard to quickly locate your house key on your key ring, simply paint your house key a bold color using nail polish. As that way, you’ll easily be able to tell your house key apart from your keys to your garage, shed or workplace.

3. Use empty toilet paper rolls to store cords. In order to avoid getting your cords and chargers tangled or misplaced, place a few empty toilet paper rolls in a box, so that you’ll be able to place one charger or cord in each empty toilet roll.

4. Place empty paper towel rolls inside of your boots. One way to prevent your boots from flopping over and getting wrinkles is to place an empty paper towel roll inside each of your boots. In order to keep each boot in perfect shape.

5. Use bread tags to label all of your cords. If you purchase sliced bread, you can repurpose your bread tags as makeshift cord tags, which you’ll easily be able to write on using a thin tip marker.

6. Place a shoe rack right inside your front door. If you’d like guests to take off their shoes, when they visit your home but feel awkward asking your friends to take their shoes off, simply place a shoe rack inside your home. Which will let your friends know, that visitors to your home are expected to take their shoes off. To further illustrate the point you can also hand paint a cute, decorative sign that says shoes off please.

7. Reuse a takeaway coffee cup in order to water your pot plants. The reason why it’s a great idea to use a takeaway coffee cup to water house plants is that the small hole, in the lid which you drink through, will slowly pour water out and is great for slowly feeding your plants. If you own plants which are prone to overwatering such as cacti, it’s well worth trying out this particular tip.

8. Use an empty tissue box in order to store your plastic bags. Place an empty tissue box under your kitchen sink, which you’ll be able to use to store any of the miscellaneous plastic bags which you may pick up. That you plan on reusing around the house or using to line your trash cans.

9. Reuse your peanut butter jars or jam jars to hold small items. As an example, you may want to reuse your empty peanut butter jars in order to hold nuts, bolts, and screws in your garage.

So what are you waiting for, there’s no better time to try out your favorite house hack out of the 9 effective house hacks listed above!