Tips, opinions, and practical rental property advice from the Smiley & Associates team.
Static blog listing converted from the original WordPress/Avada export, with clean markup and no WordPress dependencies.
Recently, Colorado law regarding the right of a tenant to a safe and functional rental dwelling was expanded to include new criteria for when a landlord must act on a quick timeline to solve certain maintenance issues and stricter remedies, such as when the landlord is required to pay for a hotel room for a renter experiencing an habitability maintenance issue. ....
Read MoreKnow the location of your electric breaker box and how to reset a breaker. A toilet plunger is a basic house item that you must have on hand to resolve minor clogging. Don’t use super thick toilet tissue or flush tampons, paper towels or ANYTHING other than the bare essentials down the toilet. Some thick two-ply toilet papers will clog up sewer ....
Read More
Clean “top to bottom” – clean things that are up high first. Bend over and look from a kneeling position so you can make sure you get everything below eye-level equally sparkling clean. Every surface must look and feel clean to the touch. In every room check and clean: *light fixtures and bulbs *corners and edges of floor *light switch plates ....
Read More
More Bad Practices At least a few of the big corporate Boulder area residential rental management companies have a practice that I believe should be debated in a court of law. These companies don’t allow renters to sign up for utilities directly with the provider. In trying to make sense of why they do this, the only utility that would be ....
Read More
This is a guest blog written by Brandi McConnell. Brandi is, hands down, the best cleaner with whom I’ve ever had the pleasure of working. Brandi recently indulged my request that she share her knowledge with me and those who see this blog. Essential Tools for Every Professional Cleaner’s Residential Move-Out Cleaning Caddy When it comes to move-out cleans, the pressure ....
Read More
Colorado legislators continue to increase tenant rights with more new laws that affect landlords and their licensed property managers serving Colorado residents. Laws that have taken or will soon take effect include the following. HB24-1318 prohibits a landlord from allowing a disabled person to make reasonable modifications to a dwelling to afford the individual with full enjoyment of the premises. HB24-1098, nee ....
Read More
Some property management companies and landlords in the Boulder area have, over the years, gotten to the point that they are now asking renters about renewal ten months in advance of the next least term start! These policies force renters to either renew insanely early or lose their apartment for the next lease term. This early leasing practice was born out ....
Read More
Most relationships for property management last for years, so it’s good to ask any property manager you may hire an array of important questions. In addition to addressing things specifically important that you’ve already identified, I suggest that you also consider the following: How many units does a given manager oversee? A manager with support staff to do things like answer ....
Read More
Know These New Laws or Risk Running Afoul Colorado has steadily been fine-tuning and increasing tenant rights over the course of the last few years. We’ve seen bills limiting the amount of late fees and application fees, new laws allowing emotional support animals in no-pet rentals, and legislation increasing a landlord’s responsibilities in a warranty of habitability situation, among others. In ....
Read More
Organic Lawn Care is the Right Thing to Do Most property management companies want to do what is easiest and, supposedly, tried-and-true in regard to lawn care. That means that the vast majority if not all of the other companies in town use pesticides, leaf blowers and other tools and methods that are bad for the planet and its creatures. Why ....
Read More
Recent additions to federal laws about fair housing have made it so that people with mental or emotional disabilities can force a landlord to make exceptions to No Pet policies and demand that landlords forego reasonable guidelines for domestic animals present in a dwelling. Prior, only people with tangible physical disabilities, like blindness or diabetes, could access these exceptions. Let me tell ....
Read More
Though there is no legal requirement in Colorado that landlords provide window shades, all of my clients have agreed to provide window coverings or curtain rods. Most provide simple slatted blinds, however some of the houses I manage have higher-end window treatments. Also, a few units I manage have a combination of blinds and curtain rods where the tenant is expected to ....
Read More
There is a lot of hysteria about mold and I believe most of it is unfounded. Mold that causes reactions in some people does indeed exist. However most mold is totally harmless and is no danger. Sure it's a bit gross, but gross and dangerous are two different things. Basement bathrooms are a great environment for mold. The key is to A) ....
Read More
My feeling is that checking a person's past legal issues leads to a slippery slope of possible discrimination. What do you do with that info? What if it's a 10-year-old case of, say, vandalism done when a person was a teenager. Do you not rent to that person? Fair housing law says if you make an exception once you have to be ....
Read More
I have a sheet I give new tenants called “Basic Things Renters Should Know” that helps explain things like how to reset a breaker or a garbage disposal. Since a lot of my tenants are new to living with roommates and new to being renters in general and they sometimes look to me for guidance, it could be helpful to log here ....
Read MoreReach out to Smiley & Associates for friendly, experienced property management guidance.
