As the autumn season hits and the leaves start to fall, this often leads to gutters clogged with debris. To keep your Dacono rental property in excellent condition all year long, it is crucial to make cleaning gutters a regular part of your property maintenance routine. But who should be responsible to clean them out? While requesting your tenant to carry out the job may appear to be a smart idea, there are important reasons why you should not have them perform regular gutter maintenance. Regardless of whether they seem to know what they are doing, 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 could result in damaged foundations, roofs, and other structural elements of the property. They can just as easily attract insects and other pests, and other health hazards like mold, among other things. When gutters are not cleaned regularly, they can cause serious problems that you might not be able to see until it’s too late.
Cleaning gutters is not a difficult task, but it does mean devoting a lot of time and a clear understanding of the ways to do it properly. 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. By using such tools, you can easily remove large debris from the gutters to keep water flowing in the right direction. It’s important to make sure 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 approaches may 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 part of why asking your tenant to perform gutter maintenance is not a good idea. Your tenant may not have any idea about how to clean a gutter without damaging it, or even without causing damage to the roof, siding, and other areas of the house. Even tenants with good intentions may accidentally cause damage that will be expensive to repair. Similarly, if a tenant cleans the gutters but does a poor job of it, you may not comprehend that there is a problem for months or even years. Assuming the job has been done correctly could cost you months or even years down the road.
A different way of looking at it is to consider is your tenant’s health and safety. 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 risk that is at stake, it is not a good idea to ask your tenant to get on a ladder to perform property maintenance on your rental. 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 keep your tenants safe and prevent expensive repairs. Whether you do it yourself or hire a professional to do it for you, the time and cost involved is insignificant compared to the consequences for not ensuring your gutters are properly maintained. At Real Property Management of the Rockies, we include regular gutter maintenance with our other quality property maintenance services in Dacono. With our assistance, you will have more time to direct your efforts to the more valuable aspects of your real estate investing business. For more information, contact us or call us at 970-658-0410 today.
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