Major storms and natural disasters can cause extensive damage. As a Pillager rental property owner, do you understand what your responsibilities are if your resident’s personal property is damaged or destroyed?
Property owners may believe that any damage caused by a storm or natural disaster is their responsibility. However, renters and rental property owners both have liabilities concerning property damage. Knowing which liabilities are yours and which belong to your residents is an important step in recovering from a natural disaster.
For instance, several rental properties have one or more big trees around the exterior of the home. If a tree on your rental property falls during a storm and damages a resident’s car, whose responsibility is it to pay for car repairs? In this situation, paying for the damages is not your responsibility. Instead, the resident’s auto or renter’s insurance should cover the cost of fixing the car.
What about other kinds of devastation caused by a natural disaster? Floods, wildfires, tornadoes, and hurricanes are all situations that rental property owners and residents may encounter. If a rental property is damaged by a natural disaster, it is the owner’s responsibility to ensure that it is livable and to pay for repairs if it is not.
However, the resident’s personal property, including vehicles, and the costs of transportation, lodging, food, and other expenses because of an evacuation are all the resident’s responsibility. Provided that the property is restored back to a livable condition in a short period of time, the resident may still be accountable for the terms of the lease and should have renter’s insurance to cover temporary alternative housing.
At Real Property Management Deluxe, we help rental property owners understand what their responsibilities are in the case of a natural disaster or another weather-related incident. Regardless of the damage nature brings, our excellent property management services will help answer your questions about liability and guarantee that your residents are shouldering their fair share of responsibility. Contact us online or give us a call at 218-454-7962 to find out more and discover what we can do for you.