Lakewood Ranch Property Management

One question frequently asked is “how do we handle non payment of rent?”. Rents are due on the first day of each month, and late after the 5th. If we have not received rent by the 10th of the month, we serve a 3 day notice which is the first step in a legal eviction. Usually, this causes the rent to be paid. However, If it is not paid by the end of the 3 day period, we file an eviction. If the resident is then able to come up with the money for the rent and reimburse the legal costs, we would have them sign a stipulation agreement agreeing that if they ever get behind again, they would waive the right to eviction proceedings and we would be entitled to an immediate writ of possession. If they cannot come up with sufficient funds to “buy off” the eviction, we would proceed with the eviction until the house is vacated at which time we would then make a claim against the residents deposit and any other escrowed funds that we may have to compensate you for any loss. Although the vast majority of residents do not require evictions, especially after our extensive resident screening process, you never know when someone may lose their job or have a break up in a relationship that can turn a good resident into a problem one. And it is critical to get the property back and on the market as soon as possible to protect your cash flow.

All this being said, we are happy to work with a resident who has only temporarily fallen behind, and is making every effort to get caught up, however, it is important to maintain control of the situation in a professional manor.

Maintenance and repairs are handled in an efficient and professional manor so that costs are reduced and at the same time, your property is kept up in good, rentable condition. Residents may notify us of maintenance issues via our web site at any time of day or night, or call us 24 hours a day on our emergency maintenance hotline. Our experienced property managers then determine whether a maintenance call is necessary, or if a resident may simply be “talked through” the problem. If a maintenance call is required, our first option is to select a lower priced vendor such as a handy man rather than a more expensive licensed contractor such as a plumber, air conditioning tech etc. And all vendors that we send to your property are covered by workers comp and liability insurance. This is an important consideration in order to protect an owner from potential injury liability or accidental damage to the property.

Our maintenance company; House Calls Maintenance, Inc. provides our owners with low cost solutions to necessary maintenance by providing quick effective repairs whenever possible to minimize cost while maintaining the quality of your investment and keeping the revenue source (the resident) happy.

One final note regarding maintenance for your property: You never have to worry that a SML property manager could spend your money without your consent. Our management agreements contain a clause limiting how much can be spent on your property without your permission.

During the course of the lease, we want to make sure that the resident is taking care of the property and not letting it stand out in the neighborhood as a “thorn among roses”. Therefore, we do periodic drive by inspections as well as interior walk throughs to look for maintenance issues such as grout in the showers and leaks under sinks and to make sure that there is no resident caused damage or neglect.