Hanging Christmas lights is a holiday tradition for several people. But if your renters want to hang their own Christmas lights on your Washington Corridor rental house, should you let them? It’s a solid and timely question and one that you should think about heedfully before saying yes. With all of the things that can go wrong, there are convincing arguments why you must discourage your tenants from hanging their own Christmas lights on the roof or high in the trees. But on the other hand, that doesn’t imply your tenants will need to forgo this part of the festivities fully. There are other ways to help your tenants decorate their homes while securing their well-being.
Probably the best argument to encourage your tenants not to hang Christmas lights on their own is the significant risk of injury that comes with doing so. From 2007 to 2013, more than 173,000 people in the U.S. were injured by hanging Christmas decorations in their homes. The riskiest factor of hanging Christmas lights is the process of hanging them up on a home’s exterior.
Every holiday season, an estimated 13,000 people injure themselves by falling off the roof or getting shocked by Christmas lights. As a landlord, you could be held responsible for your tenant’s injuries if loose or slippery roof tiles contributed to that fall. And, there is a very clear danger of electrical shock or overloading the existing breakers. Even when the status of your property’s roof isn’t a contributing factor, you could still find yourself dragged into a costly legal battle, nonetheless.
Another serious consideration to discourage your tenant from hanging their own Christmas lights is the potential damage it could do to your rental property. Nails, screws, and other hardware often used to secure strings of lights, garlands, and other Christmas decorations can leave nasty holes in walls, both interior, and exterior.
Even supposing it’s smaller, holes created in exterior surfaces could appeal to insects or water into the walls of the home, giving rise to extensive damage and leading to a very expensive repair situation. Despite the fact that there are many other ways to decorate a home without causing damage to walls or exterior surfaces, there’s no way to really know whether your tenant will use these options. Because they are renters, not owners, they may not take as many precautions to evade damage as you would like.
Although keeping your tenant’s safety and your rental property are both necessary, it may be being good to give your tenant another way to relish and enjoy Christmas lights on their home without all the liability and risk of damage. One alternative would be to grant the favor of hiring a professional to hang Christmas lights on the home for your tenant. Professionals regularly carry their own liability insurance and can execute the task more rapidly and effortlessly than your tenant could.
In addition, professional light installers usually return after the holidays to remove the Christmas lights from the home, in this way ensuring that the lights get taken down in a timely manner. Though admittedly, the thought of paying someone to hang Christmas lights on your rental house may not be your favorite, it may be well worth the price.
Along with guaranteeing safety and protecting your property, you can produce a lot of goodwill with your tenant by letting them take pleasure in their holidays a bit more, which can enhance other aspects of the landlord-tenant relationship.
Whether it’s hanging Christmas lights or operating routine property maintenance, managing a rental property can take time away from your own enjoyment of the holiday season. Why not let Real Property Management Heritage do it for you? Our property management professionals have the resources and expertise you need to be assured that your investment and your tenant are both safe and sound this holiday season. Would you like to learn more? Call us at 832-449-5263 or contact us online today!