Although most of the responsibilities of caring for rental homes are clearly defined, it’s those subtle grey areas that leave the door open for disputes between tenants and landlords.

Some obligations are set out in law, and some depend on what you agree in the tenancy agreement. Others get left out altogether, and these omissions are often the cause of awkward disagreements.

Fortunately, most conflicts can be avoided with the right preparation and knowledge, so we’ve created this guide to caring for rental homes that covers landlord and tenant responsibilities around:

Cleaning standards: Setting and meeting expectations.
Maintenance & repairs: Day-to-day care and bigger fixes.
Gardens & balconies: Clarifying exterior upkeep.
Communal areas & shared spaces: Defining everyone’s duties.
Damage & neglect: Understanding wear and tear vs. lack of care.

Not everything is as clear-cut as you might expect, but with these expert tips from years of perfecting the process, you’ll be able to create tenancies free of confusion and full of clarity.

CLEANING STANDARDS

Most tenancy misunderstandings and disputes are over cleaning, and in almost every case, it comes down to a lack of agreement over how a property was handed over at check-in.

Memory and assumption aren’t recognised in arbitration or court, so getting your property back as clean as it was on the day the tenancy started means having a watertight process, including:

Handing your property over in a professionally cleaned state, with a detailed inventory including photos and videos of rooms, fittings, and the inside of appliances.

Specifying within the inventory that the tenant must return the property in the same state, and including everything they need to clean (floors, windows, oven shelves, etc.) to avoid any doubt.
If your outgoing tenant then fails to leave your property in a professionally cleaned state, you can arrange this yourself and then take the cost out of the security deposit.

Detailed, upfront documentation is the bedrock of caring for rental homes. As humans, tenants can miss things, and a comprehensive inventory provides a foolproof checklist for ending a tenancy smoothly.

MAINTENANCE & REPAIRS

Whether it’s day-to-day care or bigger fixes, the rules for landlord and tenant responsibilities are fairly well established, although some crossover areas show that maintenance is a two-way street.

Landlords: Structural repairs, electrical and plumbing problems, leaking rainwater goods, mechanical breakdowns of boilers, appliances and heating systems, etc.

Tenants: Changing light bulbs, testing smoke alarms, replacing batteries, maintaining ventilation to avoid damp and mould, and general upkeep that prevents damage.

Where it turns out the tenant is at fault (things like misuse of appliances or pouring oil down sinks and blocking the drains), the cost of repairs is usually charged back to them.

Ultimately, caring for rental homes is a shared responsibility: tenants should look after the property and report issues promptly, while landlords should be responsive and resolve the matter swiftly.

GARDENS & BALCONIES

Exterior spaces are often left out of tenancy agreements, which can lead to them looking equally forgotten and unkempt. So it’s important to include them and specify who is expected to do what.

Tenants: Basic garden maintenance like mowing the lawn, watering potted plants, sweeping patios or decking areas and keeping them clear of moss and weeds.

Landlords: Trimming large hedges, lopping trees, ensuring that fences, walls and sheds are structurally safe and secure, replacing rotten decking or broken pavers.

If you’re leaving any tools like a lawnmower or shears for your tenant to use, be sure to include them in your inventory along with photos of the garden when they move in.

If an outdoor space is large or complex to manage, it’s often more efficient for the landlord to hire a gardener to guarantee correct maintenance and protect the value of a precious asset.

COMMUNAL AREAS & SHARED SPACES

If you own a rental property in a building with communal areas or shared spaces, the responsibility for these should be clearly stated in the tenancy agreement. Common examples include:

Communal hallways. The managing agent for the building is usually responsible for lighting, cleaning, fire safety equipment, and general upkeep.

Residents' gardens. These are usually looked after by a building’s managing agent, but in some cases the responsibility lies with the owners and landlords of individual homes.
Shared kitchens and bathrooms in HMOs. Landlords usually include a monthly clean for these within the rent, with tenants required to treat them respectfully and responsibly in the interim.

Regardless of the type of communal area or shared space, tenants should be instructed to avoid storing personal items in escape routes, as they could pose a fire risk and obstruct the exit.

DAMAGE & NEGLECT

Damage and neglect can take their toll on a rental home, but it’s worth remembering that landlords and tenants can both be guilty parties. In fact, a neglectful landlord can lead tenants to stop caring.

You can’t charge a tenant for fair wear and tear, and landlords can be fined for certain areas of neglect, but how are those areas defined? Here are some typical examples.

Fair wear & tear: Covers natural signs of use like worn carpets and flooring in high-traffic areas, minor plaster cracks, paint scuffs, discoloured grouting, and mild surface scratches.
Damage by tenants: Burns on carpets, large holes in walls, cracked window glass, smashed tiles, broken handles, and permanent stains can usually be deducted from the security deposit.

Landlord neglect can include ignoring tenant reports of problems, particularly around health hazards like damp and mould, and failing to obtain safety certificates. Fines are heavy!

The very best way to avoid neglect and damage is to make regular property inspections to catch minor issues early, be rigorous with safety and maintenance, and set an example your tenants will follow.

Do you find maintenance too much to manage?

Caring for rental homes is our chosen profession, and we’d love to show you how we look after landlords in the Wilton and Salisbury area to keep their tenancies running smoothly and their properties performing well.

Let’s see if we can do the same for you! Call us on 01722 580059 or email us at info@piccoloproperty.co.uk for a friendly and no-strings chat with our team.