Natural Disasters: What Are Your Responsibilities as a Landlord?

Natural disasters can happen in any setting and day. Even if it’s a tornado, flood, earthquake, or fire, natural disasters cause extensive property damage and displace thousands of people every year. When a natural disaster hits and harms a rental property, property owners have a special obligation to their renters besides undertaking the hardship to the rental home. The kind of these obligations builds upon whether your property is still habitable or not.

As a property owner, you realize that all rental homes must be fit for human habitation. In spite of whereabouts, all rentals must provide a tenant with water, heat, electricity, and a sanitary and structurally safe building. While the specific rules diversify, some rules express that if the rental household does not meet these criteria, a tenant is under no obligation to pay rent and may even cancel the lease. They could also be qualified to gain their security deposit rapidly in full.

When a rental home is run-down by a natural disaster, the extent of the damage should be assessed right away. The accident must be thoroughly documented if in case questions ensue down the line. If the damage is minimal and the tenant will be displaced for only a span of days or weeks, your obligations as a property owner are to handle the repairs as possible. Your tenant may still be obliged to follow the terms of the lease, as well as replacing or repairing any damage to their own personal property.

If the damage is extensive, or the repairs will take several months or more, it is the responsibility of the owner to determine how to handle the lease. If the home is uninhabitable, you may need to release your renter from the lease and return the security deposit in full. A tenants’ security deposit cannot be used to pay for damages caused by a natural disaster. Moreover, if the natural disaster strikes close to the beginning of the month or immediately after a month’s rent has been paid, the landlord may have a responsibility to return that month’s rent to the renter.

Knowing how to take action after a natural disaster and which advances to take about the lease, rental payments, and security deposits is something the professionals at Real Property Management Humboldt have years of involvement with. With our lineup on your side, you can remain calm and confident in the knowledge that even when disaster hits, your rental properties are in the foremost conceivable hands. Please contact us online or call us at 707-444-3835 for more information.