The moment that autumn crops up and the leaves begin to fall, this typically ends in gutters jammed with leaves and small branches. To make certain that your Highland Park rental property is well maintained time after time, it is imperative to have the chore of cleaning gutters a regular part of your property maintenance routine. But who should be responsible to clean them? As much as you may want to request your tenant to accomplish the task as it may resemble reasonable notion, there are important reasons why you should not have them perform regular gutter maintenance. Even though they may look like they know what they’re undertaking, asking a tenant to clean your rental property’s gutters could lead to serious injury or property damage, both of which could result in expensive problems later.
Functioning gutters are an essential part of preventing expensive repairs. Overflowing gutters can cause damaged foundations, roofs, and other structural elements of the property. They can even encourage the proliferation of insects and other pests, aside from other health hazards like mold. When gutters are not cleaned on a consistent basis, they can cause alarming problems that you might not be able to perceive until it’s too late already.
Cleaning gutters is not a difficult task, but it does consume time and requires the knowledge of how to achieve it correctly. The right equipment is required, and proper safety procedures should be observed. Most gutters can be cleaned with a ladder, hose or sprayer, and a trowel or plastic scoop. Utilizing these tools, you can easily remove large debris from the gutters to keep water flowing in the right direction. It’s essential that you move debris away from the downspout and check vertical pieces of the gutter for blockages. Flushing these parts with a hose can be quite effective in most cases. Other strategies use a power washer to get the more stubborn dirt out of gutters and downspouts but must be used with care or risk damaging the gutters or even the house itself.
This is one of the key factors why asking your tenant to perform gutter maintenance is not a good idea. Your resident may not realize how to clean a gutter without damaging it, or even without causing damage to the roof, siding, and other areas of the house. Even residents with honest intentions may accidentally cause damage that will be expensive to repair. For good measure, if a resident cleans the gutters but does an unexceptional work of it, you may not spot that there is an problem for months or even years. Mistakenly believing the work was completed decently could cost you months or even years down the road.
One more contributor to evaluate is your tenant’s health and protection. To reach the gutters, it is often necessary to use a ladder and other equipment notorious for causing accidents and injuries. By one estimate, there are more than 36,000 deaths from falling off ladders in the United States every year. Ladder-related injuries are even higher, with more than 164,000 accidents reported annually. With so much trouble included, it is not a nice idea to oblige your tenant to climb up and down a ladder to undertake property maintenance on your leasing home. Should they fall and hurt themselves, you could be sued and found liable to pay their medical and legal expenses.
Cleaning the gutters on your rental property once or twice a year can help your tenants to make sure that they’re unhurt and thwart overpriced repairs. Even if you elect to finish it yourself or sign up someone skilled to implement it for you, the amount of time and expenses involved are small in contrast to the consequences for not ensuring your gutters are properly maintained. At Real Property Management Legend, we also add regular gutter maintenance with our other quality property maintenance services in Highland Park. With our backing, you will have an extra period to address more useful characteristics of your real estate investment business. For more information, contact us or call us at 214-235-2427 today.
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