Renting Out Your Home in Maryland: Everything You Should Consider

If you’re thinking of renting out your house in Maryland, there are a variety of things you’ll need to consider.

There are many situations that may make someone rent out their home. You may, for instance, be moving to another city and still want to hold on to the rental property rather than putting it up for purchase. Or you may be single and wish to have half of the monthly mortgage payment paid by a roommate. The reasons for holding onto your past house can be many and varied.

But real estate isn't simple. Renting out your home won't be as easy as just placing a person in the home and collecting rent. From creating a listing to making the home rent-ready to taking out the proper landlord insurance and understanding local and federal landlord tenant law, there’s a lot that goes into making your house a rental.

The following are tips to help you rent out your Maryland house successfully.

1. Price the Home Properly

This is a big one! How much your property rents for can have huge repercussions for you as a landlord and impact how effectively you attract tenants. You must take care not to undercharge or overcharge your tenants.

On one hand, overcharging your tenants can lead to losses through long vacancy periods. Setting your rent price too low, on the other hand, can mean losing potential extra rental income.

To find the right rent price for your rental house, you’ll need due diligence. You can look online and see what similar rental properties in your local market are charging, or ask around the neighborhood to find a good rental rate, as well as considering your own expenses, like maintenance, mortgage payments, costs of utilities, and property taxes. Alternatively, you may want to partner with an experienced company, like McKenna & Vane, to help you in this regard.

2. Draft a Solid Lease Agreement

Having a lease agreement is absolutely necessary when putting your Maryland home on the rental market. Rental or lease agreements are the foundation of every landlord-tenant relationship. They help each party know their rights and responsibilities.

When drawing up the lease, there is certain information landlords must include to make it effective. The following is some of the information:

• The length of time the lease will be running. Are you interested in short or long term rentals?
• The amount of the security deposit. Different states have different limits in regard to security deposits. In Maryland, for instance, the maximum landlords can charge their tenant for their security deposit shouldn’t exceed the rent of 2 months
• Rent-related details. How much is the monthly rent? When does it become due? Are there any grace periods? Are there any late fees? What are the acceptable methods for them to pay rent?
• Responsibility in regards to maintenance requests and repairs
• Any rules the prospective tenant needs to abide by. For example, subletting, rental property alterations, and pet rules
• The date that the lease will be active

Seems like a lot of information, right? But when it comes to being a successful landlord, it’s best to communicate things rather than assume them. After all, a lease is a binding legal contract. Seeking professional help may offer you reassurance with your lease’s terms, however.

3. Take Up the Proper Insurance Coverage

This is another important step to take for landlords renting out their house. Now that you’re renting out your home, you’ll need separate coverage other than your homeowner’s insurance coverage.

Homeowners insurance normally covers losses and damages to the owner’s house and assets inside the renal property. The policy extends to interior and exterior property damage, damage or loss of personal assets, and any injury that occurs on the rental property.

Landlord’s insurance usually covers structural damage, legal costs, and even loss of rental income. It’s absolutely necessary when renting out a house.

In addition to taking out landlord’s insurance, you may also want to go a notch higher by requiring your tenants to have renters insurance. This will help cover their personal belongings should something bad happen within their rented house.

4. Understand Maryland Landlord-Tenant Laws

To be a successful landlord, you’ll need to know the real estate laws pertaining to rental housing. These federal and local laws are established to protect both parties in the lease. Understanding them as a landlord will help you protect yourself, your rental business, and your investment property.

One such law is the Fair Housing Act. Whether you’re marketing your property, screening tenants, or setting new apartment rules, you must make sure you’re compliant with it.

According to the Fair Housing laws, it’s illegal for landlords to discriminate against tenants or potential tenants based on a protected characteristic. In Maryland, the characteristics protected by these anti discrimination laws include race, color, sex, age, religion, national origin, and family status.

Another law is the Renters Right to Privacy. Your renter has a right to live in the property without unnecessary disturbance. Although Maryland doesn’t have a statute on the notice period, most landlords still offer their tenants advance notice of at least 24 hours.

You’ll also want to familiarize yourself with state laws regarding eviction. You can evict a tenant for many reasons, including unmade rent payments and violation of the lease agreement, like if the tenant caused damage to the property. However, before throwing out the problem tenant, you must go through the proper legal procedures.

5. Make the Home Rent-Ready

Here, your goal should be to make the home as rent-ready as possible for potential tenants before listing it on the local rental market. Making your listing stand out from the competition on the local housing market will help to successfully rent it for good money and in a timely manner. So, determine if your home needs any of the following:

• Freshen up the walls with a new coat of paint
• Give the home a deep cleaning
• Check that all appliances are working as they should
• Fix anything that is broken
• Check/replace heating and air conditioning filters
• Make the home livable by decluttering and removing any valuables

6. Hire a Professional Property Manager

Renting out your Maryland home isn’t as easy as you may think. There’s a lot that goes into the process or becoming a landlord, and it comes with a lot of costs. If you’re just starting out with renting out your house, you may find it difficult and frustrating to determine your own management plan. It may even land you in legal trouble.

Luckily for you, you can enlist an experienced rental management company to handle everything for you. A good company, like McKenna & Vane, can help you put your home on the marlet, fill vacancies, manage tenants, maintain units, collect rent money, and handle the legal aspects.

Bottom Line

Being a landlord can be lucrative, as long as you do it right. If you don’t have experience, hiring a professional can make all the difference. Contact McKenna & Vane Property Management today and we can help you reach your property investment goals!