Timing the Filling of a Rental Vacancy

If you manage your own rental property, you may have learned that it can be challenging to get the timing just right when one tenant moves out and you’re preparing to have another move in. There are many different people involved, from the tenants themselves, to cleaning services, to any repair people, and your schedule depends on everyone sticking to theirs. Here are a few considerations when it comes to managing back-to-back rentals.

First off, what is a back-to-back rental? This is when there is no vacancy time between tenants. For example, the current lease ends March 30, and the new lease starts April 1.

What you must decide is whether to set up for leases like this or to put a week gap in between. Your goal is to minimize vacancy time as to maximize profit, but there are important questions to address when setting your timeline. Here are a few of them?

What if the tenants clean the property themselves but it’s not done well enough and people are supposed to move in the next day? When does the cleaner come in?

What if it’s a high-rise condo for which you need to reserve and pad the elevator but something happens and you miss the time slot?

What if the current tenants don’t move out when they are supposed to?

Here are some of the ways that the Concierge Rental Management Team at Caron B Realty addresses these challenges:

• We advertise a vacancy 60 days before the end of the lease. We have found that in Hawaii this is sufficient lead time; we put this in the rental agreement.
• We build strong relationships and have ongoing communication with our tenants. We make sure they have access to the resources they need to move out currently and on time. There is also the option to put in the contract that new lease is contingent on tenants vacating on time.
• We have trusted vendors and extensive experience managing the schedules and navigating challenges.

You must consider the balance between giving yourself a week for protection but and the loss of income that comes with that. We’ve seen a variety of different situations and because of that, we have developed proven systems so we can handle move-outs and move-ins with efficiency and timeliness.