Hanging Christmas lights is a holiday tradition for some people. But if your renters want to hang their own Christmas lights on your Boston rental house, should you let them? It’s definitely a valid question and one that you should think of attentively before saying yes. Knowing all of the things that can go wrong, there are compelling reasons why you might want to discourage your tenants from hanging their own Christmas lights on the roof or high in the trees. But keep in mind, that doesn’t mean your tenants will need to forgo this part of the festivities entirely. There are other ways to help your tenants decorate their homes while making certain of their welfare.
Possibly the most valid reason to urge your tenants not to hang Christmas lights on their own is the significant risk of injury that goes along with doing so. From 2007 to 2013, more than 173,000 people in the U.S. were injured by hanging Christmas decorations in their homes. The most hazardous part of hanging Christmas lights is the process of hanging them up on a home’s exterior.
Every holiday season, an estimated 13,000 people injure themselves by falling off the roof or get shocked by Christmas lights. As a landlord, you could be held responsible for your tenant’s injuries if loose or slippery roof tiles contributed to that fall. Moreover, there is a very certain danger of electrical shock or overloading the existing breakers. Even when the state of your property’s roof isn’t really a factor, you could still get yourself involved in a very expensive legal battle, nevertheless.
Another reason to discourage your tenant from hanging their own Christmas lights is the potential damage it could do to your rental property. Nails, screws, and other hardware often used to secure strings of lights, garlands, and other Christmas decorations can leave hideous holes in walls, both interior, and exterior.
Despite that it’s small-sized, holes created in exterior surfaces could attract insects or water into the walls of the home, resulting in extensive damage and making a very costly repair situation. Although there are other ways to decorate a home without causing damage to walls or exterior surfaces, there’s no way to find out whether your tenant will use these approaches. Because they are renters, not owners, they may not take as many precautions to prevent damage as you would like.
Allowing that preserving your tenant’s safety and your rental property are both really important, it may be prudent or cautious to show and give your tenant another way to be delighted in and enjoy Christmas lights on their home without all the liability and risk of damage. One alternative choice would be to actually offer to hire a professional to hang Christmas lights on the home for your tenant. Professionals frequently carry their own liability insurance and can perform the work quicker and simpler than your tenant could.
Moreover, professional light installers usually return after the holidays to remove the Christmas lights from the home, therefore ensuring that the lights get taken down in a timely manner. Even though the notion of paying someone to hang Christmas lights on your rental house may not be your preference, it may be well worth the price.
Besides enhancing safety and protecting your property, you can bring about a lot of goodwill with your tenant by enabling them to have pleasure in their holidays a bit more, which can add to other aspects of the landlord-tenant relationship.
Whether it’s hanging Christmas lights or doing routine property maintenance, managing a rental property can take time away from your own enjoyment of the holiday season. Why not let Real Property Management Boston do it for you? Our property management professionals have the resources and expertise you need to be assured that your investment and your tenant are both safe and sound this holiday season. Would you like to learn more? Call us at 617-522-0099 or contact us online today!
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