How to Prepare in Face of a Natural Disaster? – Landlord’s Guide:

Around $400 billion goes to the damage cost of natural disasters that includes hurricanes, earthquakes and floods in the United States, among these many natural disasters hurricanes are the worst.

Being a landlord, you can take many precautionary measures in individual levels to combat the natural disaster and have a quick recovery. This includes working with your tenant to protect your rental property against such disasters.

Kinds of Natural Disasters:

The most common disasters dominating the US are Hurricanes and Tornadoes. However, these disasters are classified according to three settings:

Meteorological related to weather:

These mostly include Wildfires, tornadoes, droughts as well as blizzards. These are wide-reaching disasters that do the most damage and cost millions to repair. In the US, 20 states get struck with tornadoes reach a year, and they are called the Tornado Alley.

Geological related to Earth:

These include landslides, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Geological disasters mostly dominate the West side of the US.

Hydro-logical related to water:

These disasters include hurricanes, floods and tsunamis. These most commonly occur near the river banks as well as the coastlines of US

Preparing For Natural Disasters as a Landlord:

Being Proactive:

The first and foremost is to keep track of the state and staying vigilant. Also adding the necessary natural disaster clauses in your lease will clarify the roles and responsibilities of the landlord as well as the tenants.

Ensure Strict Safety Guidelines:

All Landlords should maintain their rental properties according to the state guidelines. Adding smoke and carbon monoxide detectors as well as fire extinguishers should be checking maintained regularly. An adequately and appropriately maintained tends to experience less damage than an ignored one.

Renter’s Insurance:

Insurance is one of the several requirements of the lease. Renter’s insurance makes sure that the rental property, any personal injury, as well as relocation, is covered in any kind of natural disaster.

Emergency Plan and Kit:

It’s the responsibility of the landlord to encourage the tenant to have an emergency plan and kit. These plans will aid in situations of break-ins, theft as well as natural disasters and fires. They can follow the below checklist.

• Cataloguing the property through pictures
• Getting a fireproof home safe to store cash and other essential documents
• Be aware of the evacuation process
• Be aware of the community’s emergency warning system
• Be aware of all evacuation routes

How to Work together as prepare for the Natural Disaster:

State warnings help the landlord and the tenant to assess the degree and time of the natural disaster. You may not be able to fit the thing, but there are many things that a tenant and landlord can do to prepare for the calamity by working as a team.

• Earthquake:
• Together the landlord and tenant should work to shut off all gas connections.
• The landlord should, on his own, assess the stability of the structure of property and repair any damages that can be fatal when the calamity strikes.
• The tenant should make sure all large objects in the house are secure to prevent any unnecessary damage and injury

Hurricane:

• Cut and trim large trees around the house.
• The tenant and the landlord should survey the surrounding area and make sure all gutters and hole are tightly shut.

Tornado:

• The landlord is solely responsible for building a safe room or cellar in the house.
• Both landlord and tenant should work together to being lightweight objects inside
• The tenant should make sure all heavy and large appliances are secured

Wildfire:

• In areas prone to wildfires, the landlord should have a buffer area surrounding the property.
• Both landlord and tenant should install and know how to use a fire extinguisher.
• Being prepared as a landlord can save you a lot of grief in case of a natural disaster.

If you’d like to talk more about property management, or you need help with Everest Property Management, please contact us at Everest Realty.

Property Management Service Areas