14 Jan Habitability Maintenance Vs. Cosmetic Maintenance – What’s The Difference?
Are you planning on investing in maintenance for your Los Angeles area multifamily property in 2021?
Before spending the money on maintenance, make sure that you allocate those funds properly by understanding the difference between habitability maintenance vs. cosmetic maintenance.
Understanding Habitability Maintenance
In the State of California, you are legally required to make sure that the living conditions in your rental property are habitable.
At MW Real Estate Group, we use the following pre-inspection checklist to ensure that our rental properties are in habitable condition before tenants move in:
Inspect Common Areas For:
- trash / debris / graffiti
Inspect Rental Units For
- Missing windows or screens
- Missing screen vents
- Fire equipment (make sure all is current for this year) / Fire exit signs
- Missing, broken, or inoperative smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors
Inspect Cabinet doors and windows
- If they do not close or latch, fix the issue.
Are There Damaged countertops?
You cannot have any cuts, tears, voids or gaps on any sort of countertop. They have to be consistently tight, so moisture cannot get inside the cabinet.
Countertops must also be smooth and sealed to prevent any germs and bacteria to excessively build up on the area. If your countertops are tile and grout, cracked grout must be repaired and broken tile must be replaced.
Plumbing fixtures
All fixtures need to be maintained without dripping or leaks, tightly sealed to sink to be operational.
Electrical fixtures
Fixtures are those things in the ceiling and wall that illuminate a room. They all need to have a cover over them. An exposed light bulb in a fixture is not to code and will need to be protected by a plastic or glass housing, securely and intact.
If you have loose switches or outlets that have covers or are missing covers, they need to be replaced.
Heaters
- Must all work
Sink and tub chipping
- Must be repaired
Failure to make habitability improvements to your rental property could lead to it being classified as uninhabitable, and it could be subject to California Civil Codes 1941 and 1941.1.
Once you take care of any habitability improvements to your rental property, you can move forward with making additional renovations or improvements to your property that will also improve the appeal of your property as well.
Cosmetic Improvements
Let’s say that you’ve invested the time and money on habitability improvements, the next step is to focus on cosmetic improvements.
Some of the most common cosmetic improvements that you may want to consider include adding granite countertops, high-end flooring and newer light fixtures, or smart appliances.
Contact MW Real Estate Group
At MW Real Estate Group, we specialize in property management for multifamily properties in Los Angeles.
From tasks like rent collection, maintenance, customer service, or marketing, you can count on us to provide you with the property management services that you need so you can enjoy earning passive income from your property.
To learn more about the property management services that we can offer you, contact us today by calling (213) 924-2117 or connect with us online by clicking here.