What To Do When Your Tenant Leaves

By Matty Miller

Young and energetic real estate professional in the Jacksonville, Florida area. I currently specialize in residential property management. Always looking for new opportunities and new clients.

What comes next after your tenant informs you they’re moving out?

What happens when your tenant tells you that they’re planning to move out of your property? Today I’ll discuss a few things to keep in mind when it comes to your next steps.

First, evaluate any needed repairs. Once you’ve assessed what condition the property is in, you can then decide whether you want to re-rent the property or sell it. If you re-rent it, remodeling may be a good idea, depending on the condition.

Typically, I meet with my property-owning clients to have a conversation about what’s best for their investments. For example, if the property has been rented out for 10 years, it may need some upgrades, so we’d discuss what needs to be done and start getting quotes from contractors to get an idea of the costs. From there, we’ll determine how much we could afford to rent the property for; it’s better to get these details sorted out sooner than later. You don’t have to wait until the tenant has completely moved out to make these decisions.

If you decide to re-rent and the tenant still lives there, what comes next? If you already have professional photos of the property from the previous rental period, you can use those when you relist the property after the tenant moves. 

Once the tenant is out, it’s best to relist the property within seven to 10 days and find a new tenant within 20 to 30 days. Some property managers will rent a property out with tenants still in them. I don’t like to do that because I want to make sure we’ve given the next tenant the best possible experience of the property and not rush the current tenant.

If you have any other questions about what happens when a tenant moves out or other issues related to property management, give us a call or send us an email. Hope to hear from you soon!