Running apartments and being a landlord comes with a lot of responsibility. Much of the responsibility happens up front, with all of the legal move-in documents and apartment readiness. If you are interested in getting renters inside of your apartments, you may notice that a few things are hurdles that you must get past. One of these major hurdles for some good renters is the security deposit. Here are three reasons why you should allow your renters to get a surety bond rather than provide a deposit.
The deposit amounts won't keep away good renters
If a renter is currently paying rent and wants to move, the expenses can easily pile up. If you want to get a good deposit amount to use for possible apartment issues upon move out, you will need to have a way to collect the money. The best way to meet in the middle is a surety bond. With a surety bond, tenants can pay a much lower amount than one month's rent up front, while still providing you protection for the apartment in the event that a cleanup is necessary. With a surety bond offer, those who may not be ready to shell out excess money can still move into your community.
Bonds are more easily tracked
If you use one particular company for your tenants to get surety bonds, it will be easier to keep track of rather than security deposits. If you have a multi-tenant building, you will need to store security deposits in specific types of accounts and follow the laws to the letter on returning or using a security deposit. With a surety bond, the one-time fee is not returned. All you will need is the paid bond on file instead of having to deal with hundreds or thousands of dollars per tenant.
Dealing with the bond company is easier
When it comes to tenant move-outs, there is a lot of paperwork, inspection, and sprucing up that comes along with the move. If your tenant is owed a security deposit and does not have a forwarding address or has an issue with you taking money from the deposit, you could later find yourself in court. With a surety bond from a company like NFP, P & C, Inc., you don't have to worry about finding the tenant to return money or get monies owed to you. Instead, you can deal directly with the surety bond company to get any sort of billing done. This means no more spending hours on paperwork for tenant moves.