Your Tenant is Vacating... What Happens Now?

We will conduct a Vacate Inspection

We will conduct a Full Vacate Inspection of your property once the tenant has vacated and we will hold the tenants responsible for returning the property to us in the same condition as they moved in (or close to as possible – fair wear and tear excluded).

We do this to ensure that the property presents well for the new tenants that will be moving in to your property, so that we can also hold them accountable to this same standard.

At Metropole we believe it is important to hand over your property to the new tenant in good condition, as this will set the tone for their entire tenancy. If your property is well presented they will feel respected and be more likely to be good tenants who will look after the property, stay longer and accept regular rent increases.

Just to make things clear… the purpose of this inspection is to hold the tenants responsible for cleaning and giving back the property at an acceptable standard, however it is not a full Maintenance Audit. Our property managers are not qualified to detect all maintenance that may be required at the property.

Maintenance

We’ve found that most owners go through a tenancy with very few maintenance requirements. However this does not necessarily mean that your property is in pristine condition.

While we educate your tenants that we want them to report maintenance and give them an easy way do this on line, some tenants may be more laid back and don’t want to bother you with requests.

The downside to this is, come vacation time, you may be alerted to genuine maintenance that the tenant has not reported to us. Visually obvious ones may be picked up by us but some may remain hidden until your new tenant reports them.

This is the case for such things as faulty ovens, loose door handles, leaking taps and many more that are only discovered by someone who lives there.

The Difference Between Genuine Maintenance and Tenant Damage

It is your property manager’s job to make the vacating tenant responsible for any tenant damage that they have caused and this will occur. However, genuine maintenance that the vacating tenant failed to report is not tenant damage and is still an owner’s responsibility to maintain.

For example, a sliding door which has bearings that are worn when the tenant moves out. This is genuine maintenance (or fair wear and tear), not tenant damage.

On the other hand, tenant damage would be a hole in the wall that is not noted on the Entry Condition Report.

Landlord Insurance

To make sure your financial risk is as low as possible make sure you have specialised landlord insurance. If you haven’t taken this out, please ask us and we’ll make a recommendation.

Rest assured we will protect your interests by giving you continual market feedback during the next steps including the tenant selection and letting process and by looking after the property as if it were our own.