As a rental property owner in Broken Arrow, it’s imperative to understand your responsibilities in preparation for if there should be major storms and natural disasters that can create extensive damage. This comprises knowing exactly how to handle the potential damage or impairment of your residents’ personal property.
Who is responsible for damage resulting from a disaster?
It’s a common misconception that any damage caused by a storm or natural disaster is entirely the property owner’s responsibility. As it turns out, in fact, both renters and rental property owners have liabilities for property damage. Learning these liabilities is a critical part of being prepared for and recovering from misfortune.
For illustration, a lot of rental properties feature one or more large trees around the home’s exterior. If a tree on your rental property falls down during a storm and wrecks a vehicle belonging to a resident, whose responsibility is it to cover the cost of repairs? In such circumstances, paying for the damage is not your responsibility. But rather, the resident’s auto or renter’s insurance should cover the cost of rehabilitating the resident’s car.
What about other types of damage caused by a natural disaster?
Floods, wildfires, tornados, and more are all potential events that rental property owners and residents may face every so often. In the unfortunate event of a natural disaster damaging a rental property, it is indeed the legal obligation of the property owner to always make sure that the living conditions of the property are safe and habitable for the tenants. Furthermore, the property owner is likewise financially responsible for determining and covering the expenses related to the repair work required to restore the property to a habitable state.
That being said, the resident’s personal property, like vehicles, the cost of transportation considering an evacuation, lodging, food, and other expenses are all the resident’s responsibility. As long as the property is satisfactorily returned to a habitable state within a short period, the resident may still be responsible for the lease terms. They must have adequate renter’s insurance to cover, for just a short time, needing alternative accommodations and to fully protect their personal belongings in case of damage or loss. Urging your tenants to do so may save you both a whole lot of additional headache in the event of a disaster.
How to stay prepared as a landlord
As a landlord, it is integral to prioritize disaster preparedness. Disasters waiting to happen can extremely impact your rental properties and tenants. To secure the safety and security of your properties, take into account undertaking an all-inclusive property risk assessment, securing great insurance coverage, and bringing about preventative measures such as reinforcing vulnerable areas, securing loose objects, and affixing surge protectors.
Making a comprehensive disaster preparedness plan and correctly communicating evacuation routes and emergency contacts to your tenants are important steps. Building protocols for securing the property furthermore contributes to effective disaster preparedness, successfully safeguarding your rental properties and the welfare of your tenants, ultimately.
At Real Property Management Tulsa, we are devoted to helping Broken Arrow rental property owners like you navigate the difficulties of natural disasters and other weather-related incidents. Contact us online or call us at 918-532-7020 today to take in more on the issue of how we can offer you the right guidelines and support you are certainly looking for.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
