We’re sure you’ve heard the phrase “you don’t know what you don’t know,” but have you ever thought that sometimes “you may not know what you should know.”

As property owners, it’s essential to know everything you can about your property, property ownership and the limitations, restrictions and needs of your occupation.

Landlord responsibilities come in many shapes and sizes. Landlords often include an obligation to their tenants to keep a “warranty of habitability.” This is accomplished by making sure the rental is livable, safe, and clean for your tenant. We’ll go over the below in-depth, but here are just a few things that a landlord may be responsible for:

• Finances
• Property Maintenance
• Legal
• Privacy
• Fire Damage

So here’s a list of things you should know?

We would first like to direct you to the Saskatchewan The Landlord and Tenant Accsbible here: file:///home/chronos/u-d00d39c103db669c6ccb9f4106b239e3ad58d5ae/MyFiles/Downloads/L6.pdf

But to shortlist it, here is a handy list of landlord responsibilities:

1. Complying with all provincial and local health and building codes
2. Maintaining structural components and a reasonably weather-protected unit
3. Providing the necessary heat, electric, and hot and cold water facilities and other necessary utilities

If utilities are included in monthly rent payments, they should be in the landlord’s name. 

If you’ve left it up to the tenants to pay the utilities, it’s essential to ensure that they are not in your name since your tenant is assuming responsibility.

 Your lease will determine who is responsible for what utilities between the landlord and tenant.

The first thing a property manager should make sure to do is to make any requested repairs promptly.

It is usually in a landlord’s best interest to make repairs reported by a tenant as soon as possible, especially if the damage causes the rental to become uninhabitable or creates a safety hazard. 

If a landlord neglects repair work, there can be consequences.

Depending on local laws, including the allowability for tenants to withhold rent.

The second thing is also ensuring that living conditions are peaceful and quiet, as well as hazard-free

The third is maintaining a pest-free environment.

Fourth is Doing your best to keep your tenants safe; As a landlord, you want to keep your renters safe from crime. This could be as simple as providing sturdy locks on doors to installing lights in dark areas around the building. These efforts not only improve safety but make people feel more secure in their home as well.

Fifth is maintaining the property.

Address cosmetic issues will go a long way to helping you find and retain good tenants and being able to decipher tenant-caused damage to already existing damage. Also, this is a feature of safety; rundown housing causes many issues and invites pests, take care of your property now to avoid issues in the future.

When fixing things, make sure to keep accurate, up-to-date records of all maintenance and repairs and any receipts to refer to during appraisals and in case of tenants want to claim the issue was never resolved. 

Insurance

Most lenders will require proof of insurance before providing you with a loan for a rental property.

In some cases, you may have an escrow account set up with your lender, which pays your insurance policy.

It’s a good idea to require renter’s insurance at your rental too.

Encourage renter’s insurance; a policy can cost your renter $5 – $10 a month and will cover their possessions that are not covered by the landlord’s insurance policy…Other Notable Insurances include water, fire, and hurricane coverage.