Landlord Requirements

Using a professionally licensed property management firm is convenient and can save you (the Landlord) a tremendous amount of time and effort. As a licensed provider of property management services, we also subscribe to a set of standards that are designed to not only to enrich the services we provide the landlord, but also to protect the landlord (and us) from the liabilities and hazards that are inherent to the business of property management.

Therefore we required that all landlord-owned properties utilizing our Property Management Services adhere to the following requirements:

Insurance – Landlord must maintain a valid Homeowners Insurance Policy covering the damage to and replacement cost up to the value of the property. We also highly recommend a rider for hurricane coverage or a separate hurricane insurance policy all together. The property (and landlord) must also be insured for a minimum of $100,000 of liability.

Building Code and Fire Safety Compliance – Certified Residential requires that properties under our care for Property Management services be in compliance with all county and/or local building codes with regard to structure, electrical, plumbing, mechanical (HVAC) and fire safety. We will not undertake the management of any property with known code violations and/or without properly working fire extinguishers and smoke alarms.

Environmental – Certified Residential requires that properties under our care for property management services be free from environmental hazards that can cause harm to tenants and can also create a liability risk for the landlord. While some environmental conditions cannot be changed, it is important and in some cases a legal requirement, to document the “potential” for such conditions and/or take recommended remedial action as follows:

Mold can be very apparent by sight or by smell in a rental property, but in many cases it is not visible without a close inspection of drywall, baseboards, underneath flooring or countertops, even behind wallpaper or air conditioning duct work. Mold presents not only a tenant health and landlord liability issue, but if left untreated, it can damage the property to a level requiring serious and costly repairs. Therefore, if mold is present in the property we require the landlord take proper steps to remediate the issue OR authorize Certified Residential to coordinate the necessary repairs. Tenants cannot be placed into a property containing Mold.

Lead Based Paint and Radon Gas are environmental conditions that may be present in a property, but there are no reasonable actions for a landlord to undertake that will either of these issues. It IS important however that we provide proper “disclosure” to the tenant(s) who are renting the property. Certified Residential utilizes the proper Florida Association of Realtor Lead Based Paint and Radon Gas disclosure components of all leases signed between tenant and landlord.

Any other environmental hazards that may be present on the property will be identified at the time of property inspection by Certified Residential. Please note that environmental hazards could include but not be limited to the presence of old pesticide bottles or paint cans in the garage, or the presence of Carbon Dioxide (an odorless, tasteless gas) that in rare instances can be present in the home.  Certified Residential reserves the right to identify the presence of these potential hazards (as part of our inspection) and request that the landlord remediate the issue OR authorize Certified Residential to coordinate the necessary repairs prior to undertaking a property management contract.