Renting out your home can be a good way to make extra money, but it raises a lot of questions. A lot of homeowners don’t know how to do things like collect rent, do background checks, or find the right tenants.
Some people are also worried about making repairs and following rental laws.
If you own a rental property in Anne Arundel County or elsewhere, you need to follow the rules about fair housing and lease agreements. To stay legal and protect their investment, landlords must do things like screen tenants, write clear leases, and take care of maintenance requests.
You can rent out your home in two ways: by doing everything yourself or by hiring a property management company.
We’ll also go over what landlords are responsible for, like inspections and collecting security deposits, so you won’t be surprised.
You want to be sure that your rental income is safe… Read on for some easy tips that work!
Property owners can use detailed checklists and real-life examples to learn how to screen tenants and settle disputes in a way that works. These extra details help make important points about inspections of properties, collecting rent, and following the law.
Important Points
Renting out your home can give you a steady stream of income, but you have to follow rules like in Orlando, the Florida Landlord/Tenant Laws.
You have more control when you do rental tasks yourself, but it takes time to screen tenants, make repairs, and fill out legal paperwork.
Property management companies take care of things like marketing, inspections, collecting rent, and dealing with tenants every day. They charge 8–12% of the rent (sometimes up to 20%).
Good property managers know the laws and markets in their area. This helps them avoid fines, fill empty units faster, and keep your rent price right, especially in places like Orlando.
To protect your investment, look into a property manager’s experience, reviews from other landlords, service range (like how they handle emergencies), fees structure, and knowledge of the area before hiring them.
Renting Out Your House on Your Own
When you rent out your house yourself, you are responsible for everything, from setting the rent to screening tenants and making lease agreements.
A property owner can choose to rent out their house independently, but this approach can be quite frustrating and does not provide passive income, unlike hiring a property management company. This method needs you to pay close attention to things like screening tenants and keeping the property in good shape.
Decide if Renting Out Your House Is Right for You
Renting out a house can bring in a steady stream of money. This money could be used to pay the mortgage, property taxes, and upkeep on the property every day. Many owners rent out their homes when the housing market is down so they don’t have to sell for a low price.
It helps you build equity over time and makes your home an investment.
Homeowners can look at online checklists to see if managing their own property fits with their goals and schedule for steady rental income.
Being a landlord takes time and work. Owners are responsible for repairs, following landlord-tenant laws, and keeping up with rules like the Florida rental laws and the Tenant Protection Act.
Collecting rent, screening tenants, and responding to maintenance requests are all things that need to be done every day. If your schedule is full or the property needs a lot of work, renting it out on your own may not be the best thing for you right now.
Learn the legal and financial requirements
Landlords have to follow important rental laws. Quickly fix problems with the plumbing, heating, or electricity. Fix any damage within the time frame set by law to follow habitability rules. Follow the Fair Housing Laws and don’t discriminate against people because of their race, gender, disability, or family status.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act says that you have to do tenant screenings. If you deny an applicant, you have to keep the credit checks fair and share the results.
Before you move in, you need to sign a legal lease. Include things like security deposits, how to evict someone, what you have to tell them about lead paint or smoke alarms, and how to collect rent.
In Pennsylvania, landlords can ask for up to two months’ rent as a security deposit in the first year. After that, they can only ask for one month.
Use forms like Schedule E to keep track of your rental income each year when you file your federal income tax return. To lower the amount of money you have to pay taxes on, add up costs like repairs and maintenance on your property.
Landlords should have homeowner’s insurance and may want liability insurance to protect themselves even more from lawsuits related to their rental properties.
Making sure you follow all the rules in your area can be easier if you go over a detailed checklist for each legal and financial requirement.
In big cities like Orlando, you should follow the rules because they may have extra rules under laws like the Landlord Tenant Laws.
Get Your Property Ready for Tenants
You need to do a deep cleaning of the carpets, appliances, bathrooms, and windows. For your safety, check all of your smoke detectors, carbon monoxide alarms, and locks. Before putting your property up for sale, fix any problems and take care of any maintenance.
Before moving in, all safety codes must be met. To make the outside of your home more appealing, use neutral paint colors, fix broken hardware, and improve the landscaping.
A detailed move-in checklist can help make sure that all of the safety codes and property maintenance tasks are done right.
Rental agreements should include information about the property and follow Florida rental laws. Include things like in-unit laundry or recent updates in your rental ads. Get your home ready for property inspections and requests for repairs.
Next, work on finding a rental price that is competitive.
Set a Price for Rent That Is Competitive
Before you set your price, look at the going rates for rentals in your area. For instance, in Orlando, two-bedroom rental homes cost about $2,800 a month on average. You can get help from rental websites or a real estate agent.
Look at the condition of your property, the laundry in the unit, and other features next to rentals. Charge a little more if your house has new appliances.
You need to make sure that your rent covers your mortgage payments, property upkeep, and insurance. If you set the rent too high, it might be hard to find tenants. You won’t make any money if you go too low.
Online tools can help property owners compare market trends and get information to prove their income so they can set a fair rental rate.
If you hire a property management company, don’t forget to include the costs of managing the property. You can fill your rental faster by using creative pricing strategies, such as shorter leases or rewards for longer leases.
Make sure the rent you charge meets your financial goals and covers your costs.
Promote Your Property Well
Find out who your ideal renters are, like families or students, and show off the things they want. Add things like laundry in the unit or appliances that save energy. Take good pictures and write clear descriptions of the property.
Use Facebook, Instagram, and popular rental sites to get the word out quickly.
Virtual tours for people who can’t come in person can help market a property better. Interactive digital tools make it easier for potential tenants to see the details.
Email marketing works as well. Send out newsletters with listings, news about market trends, and advice for tenants. Post updates often so that your rental stays visible online.
Good digital marketing helps you get more tenants and make more money from your rentals.
Choose and Screen Tenants
Always use tenant screening rules that are clear and fair. For instance, don’t let people with recent violent criminal convictions apply, but don’t discriminate based on race or family status.
During the tenant screening process, make sure to follow Florida’s Fair Housing laws and all other laws.
Check their credit to see their payment history and score. Use background checks to find out if someone has a criminal record. To make sure that the rent is always paid, ask for proof of income, such as pay stubs or letters from employers.
Call your old landlords to get information about your rental history and references. Make sure your criteria are up to date so that they are in line with the best practices in property management services in the Orlando rental market.
Digital tenant screening tools make it easier to check someone’s background, credit, and employment history to make sure they have a good rental history.
Tell each applicant what you need at each step of the screening process, from start to finish. This builds trust and keeps things clear later on.
Write a Lease Agreement
At the top of your lease agreement, write down the full names of the landlord and all of the tenants. Add a full description of the property. Make a list of all the rooms, appliances, furniture, amenities (like in-unit laundry), and fixtures that come with the rental property.
Tell the tenant if anything is theirs or if it is shared with others.
Write down clearly how long the lease will be. For instance: a month, six months, or a year. Make a list of the exact amounts of rent and when they are due.
Let your tenants know what their duties are, such as calling for repairs, and what maintenance requests go through you instead of them doing simple repairs themselves.
Include any legal notices that are required by state law. For instance, in Florida or Florida, if you rent an older home built before 1978, you must include lead paint notices.
A sample checklist of important lease terms can help make sure that all of the landlord’s duties and legal requirements are met.
Get Ready for Move-In Day
Before the tenants move in, do a full inspection. If there are problems with the upkeep of the property, such as broken locks, lights, or leaking faucets, fix them. Make sure the area is clean and check for damage on major appliances and fixtures.
Small improvements can make a big difference. New cabinet handles or a fresh coat of paint are both good ideas.
Get the security deposit up front and make sure that all the utilities are working. Fill out a move-in checklist that includes the walls, floors, smoke detectors, appliances, and plumbing. On move-in day, go through this list with your tenant to make sure everything is in order.
An interactive digital checklist can be helpful when checking out a property or showing it to a tenant.
This is good for both parties under Florida rental laws and makes sure that landlords follow the law.
Be a Good Landlord and Deal with Problems
Once you get your property ready and rent it out, new problems will come up. Late rent payments can hurt your cash flow, so make sure your rental agreement has clear rules about when payments are due. Periods of vacancy, which are common in cities like Orlando, can lower your rental income.
To cut down on empty months, keep your marketing going.
Sometimes, bad tenants don’t pay their rent or take care of the property. To lower risks, do thorough tenant screening that includes background checks and proof of income. For eviction and notice periods, follow the laws in your area, such as the Florida Tenant Protection Act.
Be ready for maintenance requests and repairs that need to be done right away.
Setting up a standard way to handle emergency repairs and maintenance requests can help keep your rental income steady.
Renting Out Your House with a Property Management Company
If you want steady rental income and less stress, hiring a property manager can make things a lot easier.
A property manager takes care of the daily tasks for a rental property. They put up ads for the house, check tenants’ credit and background, and make sure they pay their rent on time. They keep track of their rental income and costs with tools like financial reporting.
A good property manager makes sure that their properties follow Florida rental laws and the Tenant Protection Act by using advanced marketing and tenant screening.
Property managers make sure that properties follow the law, like the Tenant Protection Act and Florida rental laws.
They can help you kick out tenants if you need to. Property managers also help tenants with questions about things like laundry in the unit or rules for homeowners associations. They take care of problems when people complain or don’t pay their rent on time.
They know what the housing market is like in cities like Orlando and come up with a fair way to collect rent. Their job includes managing assets to keep property values high. The next part talks about the benefits of hiring a property management company.
The Benefits of Hiring a Property Management Company
Using a property management company helps landlords save time and stress. Property managers use systems that keep cash flow steady to handle things like collecting rent and screening tenants every day.
Property managers use their marketing skills and real estate tools to find more renters and lower vacancy rates, even in tough markets like Orlando. When you do a background check and verify a tenant’s income, you get fewer late payments and evictions.
Property management companies work with trusted contractors to take care of repairs and maintenance on rental properties. This keeps the properties safe and the tenants happy. They help landlords follow Florida’s rental laws and tenant protection acts, which lowers the risk of getting sued.
Regular inspections of your property find problems early. Owners benefit from financial reporting features at tax time because they make it easier to fill out forms and get the most deductions for rental income.
Owners see that property management companies often use digital systems to keep track of maintenance and repairs so they can quickly handle emergency repairs.
Take care of daily tasks
A property manager takes care of day-to-day tasks like quickly responding to tenant maintenance requests, collecting rent, and managing security deposits. They set up repairs with trusted vendors from their property maintenance network and make sure that all emergencies are dealt with right away.
Real-time financial reporting keeps owners up to date on property inspections and rental income.
Under Florida rental laws, a property manager is in charge of keeping the rental property in good shape and making sure that tenants follow the terms of their leases.
Good communication with tenants helps you make fair rules and build strong relationships. Property management services work to keep tenants from moving out by keeping rent competitive in the Orlando rental market, making sure safety standards are met, and following the Tenant Protection Act.
The manager is in charge of move-ins and move-outs, handles owners’ financial reporting, takes care of routine maintenance requests, keeps an eye on market trends near your investment property, and keeps detailed records for state income tax forms or income tax rates.
Getting to maintenance networks
A property management company helps landlords find reliable contractors and vendors to do repairs and maintenance. These companies take care of things like changing smoke detector batteries, checking HVAC systems, changing air filters, and getting rid of pests.
Having set up maintenance networks makes sure that repairs and upkeep are done on time, which protects your investment property.
When a water pipe breaks or the heat goes out in the winter, they call trusted professionals right away. They often get better rates because they have good relationships with vendors. This quick response keeps tenants happy and protects the value of the rental property.
Homeowners save money and get service faster when they can use established maintenance networks. Timely repairs keep tenants from moving out and help keep bigger problems from happening later.
Expertise in Tenant Screening
Property managers choose good tenants for your rental property through a careful screening process. They check your credit, your background, and your income and job to make sure they are correct. They also call the tenant’s old landlords to find out about their rental history.
Automated tenant screening tools make it easier to do background checks, credit checks, and employment verification, which helps to build a more reliable rental history.
They keep you safe from legal trouble by following fair housing laws in places like Florida.
Professional tenant screening makes it less likely that tenants will be late on their rent or have to be evicted, which costs money. Property management companies change their methods all the time to keep up with market trends and best practices in the industry.
This process helps keep property damage to a minimum and gives landlords in big cities like Orlando steady rental income.
Collecting rent and dealing with late payments
Every month, a property manager collects rent and keeps a close record for both the landlord and the tenant. Most property management companies charge between 8% and 12% of your monthly rent for things like collecting rent, screening tenants, and making lease agreements.
Efficient rent collection processes help keep rental income steady and make it possible to report finances on time.
The manager gets in touch right away if a payment is late. To help tenants catch up on late payments, structured payment plans may be available.
Rental laws, like those in Florida, say that if tenants still don’t pay after reminders, they get formal notices. If nothing else works, only then will eviction or other legal action be taken.
Good recordkeeping helps landlords stay safe during any legal actions. A professional service makes sure that all the rules are followed, from sending out warnings to keeping track of every payment or missed payment.
Help with Following the Law
Another important job is helping people follow the law, which is made easier by smooth rent collection. Property management companies make sure that rental properties follow all the rules set by the city, state, and federal government.
For instance, in Florida, they help you follow the Tenant Protection Act and all of Florida’s rental laws.
They take care of permits and set up property inspections when they are needed. Every list includes smoke detectors and emergency contacts, so safety standards are always met. Managers also make sure that your property is covered by homeowner’s insurance or special landlord insurance policies.
Their team keeps track of lease agreements, Section 8 forms if needed, and documents that prove income so that homeowners don’t have to worry about getting fines or sued later. Regular updates and digital reporting help you stay in line with the law.
Drawbacks of Property Management Services
Property management companies usually charge a lot of money. These can be anywhere from 8% to 12% of your monthly rent, and some companies may charge as much as 20%. Costs for renting, taking care of the property, inspections, and even evictions can add up quickly.
This lowers your return on investment and rental income.
It is very important to carefully look at the cost of property management services so you don’t miss any hidden fees that could hurt your income.
You also have less control over daily operations when you hire a property manager. Owners might feel like they aren’t involved in important decisions about their own rental property.
If the property manager is clear about things, it can help ease worries about losing control over daily life.
How to Pick the Best Property Management Company
A good property manager can save you time and help your rental property run smoothly. Use recent market trends, online reviews, and suggestions from local real estate agents to help you make your decision.
Look at Experience and Reputation
Find out how long the property management company has been around. A company that has been in the rental property business for a long time is better at dealing with problems. Find businesses like HomeRiver Group.
They know a lot about the local area and offer full property management services in Orlando and other places.
Check out what other property owners have said about it online. Positive reviews from clients can show if they help with things like collecting rent, screening tenants, writing leases, handling maintenance requests, or following Florida rental laws like the Tenant Protection Act.
Property management companies that have been in business for a long time and have seen strong market trends are better at dealing with problems with investment properties.
Look at the different services they offer
It’s important to look at a property management company’s range of services after checking their experience and reputation. Some groups only help with collecting rent or making lease agreements, while others do more.
Strong companies take care of tenant screening, checking income, background checks, and even maintenance requests and emergency repairs. A lot of people in Orlando use trusted vendor networks to quickly fix things around the house and check on their property on a regular basis.
Owners get more value from a full range of services that includes tenant screening, rent collection, and property inspections.
Look over the rules for communication and reporting
For smooth rental operations, it’s important to be able to talk to your property management company clearly. Ask the manager how they will deal with problems with tenants, lease violations, and requests for maintenance.
Get answers about emergency repairs and regular updates. Owners need to know what’s going on with property inspections and rent collection trends.
Timely financial reports and open lines of communication keep owners up to date on their rental property.
Make sure that written contracts spell out how payments will be made and how to end services. Most of them require a 30-day notice before ending services. Look at how often you get reports or statements about your rental income or expenses.
Ask them if they charge a flat rate or a percentage of the total cost, and make sure they are open about their fees so you don’t have to worry about hidden costs later. Regular communication builds trust between the property manager and the landlord, especially in busy markets like Orlando when things are urgent.
Think about costs and fees
Most property managers take between 6% and 12% of the rent they collect each month. Some property management companies in Orlando may charge a flat fee or group their services together for one price.
There may be extra fees for things like leasing, property inspections, emergency repairs, and evictions. Owners should always include these fees in their plans for rental income, using careful methods of financial reporting.
Check hidden fees carefully to make sure that property upkeep and following the law are done without extra costs.
Check your knowledge of the local market
After you have thought about costs and fees, you should learn as much as you can about the local market. A property management company that knows a lot about the rental market in Orlando can set a fair price for rent.
This keeps your property competitive and boosts your rental income. A good property manager, for instance, knows what tenants want, like having laundry in the unit or easy parking. They find out about the best schools, public transportation options, and local amenities.
In the Orlando rental market, knowing the area helps set competitive rental prices and market properties well.
To follow the law, you need to know the rules in your area, like the Tenant Protection Act or Florida rental laws. Companies that have a good reputation in your area can fill open positions more quickly and do a better job of screening tenants.
They put the right people in your unit by looking at recent market trends and checking their rental history. Find out how long they have worked in your city and look at their history with other landlords.
This protects your property and gives you peace of mind.
In Conclusion
Rental properties are potentially great investments but to make it really passive income, it is best when you have a trouble-free property management company to handle everything for you.
If you take the right steps, renting out your house can be a good idea. Hiring a property manager will give you more time and peace of mind, but it will cost you money. You can protect your rental income and property value by using smart tenant screening, writing good leases, and knowing your area well.
Property management companies help busy owners in places like Orlando or Anne Arundel County deal with maintenance, rent collection, and legal issues. A unique offer we give at Guest Managers is our dynamic pricing, so that when demand is high, property owners can count on us to offer the best pricing for maximum rental income. Contact us today!
Questions and Answers
1. What does a property manager do for homes that are for rent?
A property manager is in charge of collecting rent, screening tenants, and keeping the property in good shape. They also help with lease agreements and respond to requests for repairs.
2. How does a company that manages rental properties check out tenants?
Property management services look for trustworthy renters by doing background checks, credit checks, income verification, and reviews of their rental history.
3. Do I have to follow any special rules when I rent out my house in Florida?
Yes, you have to follow Florida rental laws like the Tenant Protection Act and the rules for following the law. These include things like reporting finances and making sure the property is safe.
4. Can a real estate agent help me sell my rental property?
A real estate agent knows what’s going on in the local market, like the rental market in Orlando. They can use effective property marketing strategies to get your home seen.
5. What do property managers do when repairs are needed?
The business takes care of routine maintenance, emergency repairs, inspections, and, if necessary, issues with homeowners’ insurance or homeowners’ associations.
6. When I rent out my house, what papers do I need?
You will need lease agreements that follow state law and proof of employment from tenants. You will also need paperwork that explains how rental income is taxed at a higher rate.
This information is not a substitute for legal, financial, or professional advice. For specific help, talk to qualified professionals. This content is not paid for and does not have any affiliate links.