Can an owner conduct
his or her own interior inspection?
The short answer is yes, technically an owner can absolutely conduct his or her inspection directly and we would not stand in the way of that desire. We do however have policies and procedures to be aware of.
Keep in mind per our management agreement owners are not to have direct contact with tenants (this would include involving an owner in a direct inspection). With this, we do highly recommend and prefer owners to allow Opulent RE to conduct inspections solely and directly to avoid any conflict or liability that can arise. Although property owners have good intentions they can often say and/or do things that put them at legal risk. In addition, when the tenants have an opportunity to get in front of the "Owners" it can open "Pandora's" box where they are often known to immediately start asking for things to be done IE: cosmetic repairs or improvements, complaining illegitimately or without real merit (surprise tenants do this) and more. Often owners can leave with a large impending bill of expenses they were not prepared for and/or feeling simply overwhelmed. In our vast experience it is best to request Opulent RE complete an inspection which we complete separate and solely. Once requested, we will put on our inspection schedule and will generally have fully complete within 5-7 business days. We will provide you via email a detailed PDF report complete with date/time stamped photographs. If there are bona fide concerns or lease breaches observed on the inspection report we will review with you and provide a 10 day cure notice to the tenants (meaning they must cure the issues observed within 10 days).
Request an inspection here:
https://www.opulentre.com/request_an_inspection
If you still desire the control to inspect direct, we will pass the baton to you:
We realize there are personality types that simply cannot resist walking the property directly. In that case, we will pass the baton to you fully. Our involvement at that point will be limited to contacting the tenants directly informing them the owners would like to inspect the property and that you (the owner) will be contacting them directly to arrange a day/time that mutually works for both parties. We will provide you the tenants contact information and you can simply arrange directly.
Can Opulent RE schedule the inspection with the tenants for us?
If you are ready, willing, and able to conduct the inspection directly you must also be willing to coordinate and communicate directly with the tenant. Both owner and tenant schedules are known to change thus it is important the two parties do have direct communication to ensure the success of the appointment.
What if a tenants says no or does not cooperate with us?
You may or may not be surprised to know tenants are not always kind or cooperative. In fact, sometimes can be down right combative. If you and your tenant cannot mutually agree on a day/time to inspect the property you must shift the inspection request back to us directly. We will then take appropriate action to complete on our time frame as described above solely and separate.
Can we just issue a 48 hour notice if they do not cooperate?
In short you as a landlord can absolutely issue a 48 hour notice under the right circumstances. Opulent RE however will only issue 48 hour notices directly in regard to substantial urgent matters or continued failure to cooperate by the tenant.
IE: If you are flying in to town for a few days and would like to personally walk the property BUT the tenant is unavailable as they are having a family birthday party, it's a holiday week, family in town or any other reason they are not comfortable with a walk through - it is our policy to respect that (and owners should as well) thus not being an emergency or an urgent matter it should be re-scheduled for another time. We have found it critically important to both respect and not breach the tenant's "quiet enjoyment" of the home.
Some tenants can perceive a forceful entry as threatening, intimidating, or even harassment. According to A.R.S. § 33-1343(D) “the landlord shall not abuse the right to access or use it to harass the tenant.” One of the most common defenses a tenant brings up in court is that their landlord was harassing them. We need to avoid anything that even resembles harassment so your tenant can’t use that as a claim against you.
What if we find damage or concerns during the inspection?
When completing routine inspections concerns can be raised on how the tenant is maintaining or respecting the property. If you are conducting your own inspection make sure to snap photographs of any concerns to be provided to us. When a tenant is failing to maintain the property we can send 10 day notice to cure the issue or issues. As an example if there is drywall damage, broken blinds, weeds in the yard etc. The Arizona Landlord Tenant Act requires us to provide the tenant a cure notice. We send the notice and follow up after to confirm or deny if the issues were resolved. If they fail to cure the issue our lease allows us to have the work either performed and bill the tenant thereafter, simply notate the issues and bill the tenant upon vacating via their security deposit, or potentially terminate the tenant all together.
See here for specifics on tenant cure notices: https://www.opulentre.com/cure_notice
Will Opulent RE join us on the inspection?
Not physically no, it is not our position to "co-manage" the property nor can we guarantee our inspection schedule to align with both the owners and the tenants schedule. You can conduct the inspection as described above or we are more than happy to complete it directly. If you opt for us to complete the inspection we will handle the inspection upon your request directly, solely, separate and within our appropriate inspection team's schedule as outlined above.
We share in the common goal of property preservation and certainly hope you understand both our position and policies regarding routine inspections. We can assure you one way or another it will get done. Please have patience and understanding for all parties involved.
Ready. Set. Inspect!
Please choose an option below, if you'd like Opulent RE to conduct an inspection keep in mind 1 (one) free property inspection per calendar year is included as a courtesy (upon owner request only). Any additional inspections will be billed at $75 each.
