If you’re considering letting a tenant stay on your rental property, you need to go through a lot of steps beforehand to ensure that you both will have an enjoyable experience during the rental process. For those who are new to renting out property, it may be hard to figure out what steps you need to take before officially renting. If you’ve have a property that you want to rent out, here are three things that you should do before you rent out your house.

Repair, Renovate, and Clean Your Property

To be able to rent your property, you have to make sure that it is habitable. This means that you have to ensure your tenant’s safety by taking care of all faulty sections of your house and its contents, renovating whatever areas need a little help, and cleaning the property so that there is no waste that could potentially ruin the tenant’s living experience or cause legal issues for you.

The most important thing that you will have to start with is any structural issues on the property. If any of the major sections of the house such as the foundation, the walls, the floors, or the roof are damaged, these are potentially dangerous problems that could spell disaster both physically and financially. Once you have repaired any major issues, you will then need to take care of any minor repairs that need to be made to smaller portions of the house and to any of the appliances.

Next, you will need to do a thorough sweep of the interior and exterior of your property and clean any areas that are overly dirty or filled with trash and other items. While you are doing your sweep, take a look at some of the rooms and see whether they are in need of renovations or if those renovations could help improve your rental property. Could the kitchen benefit from a new type of tile? Would plantation shutters improve the outside aesthetic of your home? Do only what you think is necessary to benefit your investment instead of throwing away money trying to build the perfect space.

Prepare the Legal Paperwork for Your Future Tenant

Once you’re sure that everything in your house is in order and ready to rent out, you are going to need to start establishing the legal paperwork for you and your tenant. If you plan on renting out your house to a tenant only on a month-to-month basis, you are not going to have to do as much work and can draw up a quick rental agreement. If you plan on letting a tenant stay for a longer period, such as a year or more, you will need to create a more legally sound lease.

A lease is going to have to include major sections that cover the amount of time that the lease lasts, the agreed-upon rent and the terms of payment, rules of the house and consequences that come with breaking those rules, landlord and tenant rights and responsibilities, and any other conditions that you have for the tenant during their rental period. After it’s all written down, make sure to have it double-checked by a lawyer so that you can ensure that your lease is a legally binding contract.

Search for a Clean and Responsible Tenant

Once you have your house and your lease ready, all that’s left to do is find a responsible tenant who will take care of your house while they are renting it out. You can make sure that you have a clean and responsible tenant by getting a tenant screening report. You can then find out about your potential tenant’s credit score, any criminal background, and all of the other details about your tenant’s life. If everything looks good, you can then begin the rental process

It’s important to make sure that you have everything lined up and squared away before you consider renting out your property. With these three tips, you will have everything ready so that you can begin turning your rental property into a passive income stream.