I recently purchased a park and the prior owner did not collect deposits. He didn’t want to deal with having a trust account and managing the records. I tend to think that deposits should be taken to help cover my repair costs when the tenant leaves. At Boot Camp, I think Frank mentioned taking a $1000 deposit for pets to help cover the cost of replacing the carpet when the tenant leaves. Thoughts? If you take deposits, do they equal first & last month’s
rent? Do you take deposits on the lot rental and/or home rental? Pet
deposits?Thanks!
I personally would not ask for deposits for people already there and only renting lots.
On park owned homes, I get a deposit equal to one month rent and non refundable pet deposit of 350 dollars.
This covers cost to disinfect the home and steam clean carpet when they leave.
I have older homes but on brand new homes, I would avoid pets all together or do like frank and ask for 1,000 or more.
Some parks have a policy of no pets period.
If someone will by chance move their home in themselves and only rent the lot, I am willing to pay them so I would not take a deposit.
You cannot ask for so much up front as most people who will rent from you will have to struggle to come up with the basic deposit unless of course
You have a luxury property.
Hi Brian,Thanks! We aren’t requesting deposits from people already in the park. I’m getting things together for new tenants and changing the process the prior owner had.
We purchased a park last year where the previous owners did not take deposits and did not check backgrounds. I know you are ‘only’ considering not taking deposits, but not doing so is a mistake. You do not want to filter for tenants that are the least responsible. That is exactly what you do when you neither check backgrounds nor take deposits. Both are important to know who you are doing business with, and to give them some ‘skin in the game’ and encouragement to not trash their home or lot. We always take a deposit equal to one month’s rent for either home rentals/RCs, or the rare bird that has a house to move in. That said, we do not retroactively collect deposits from existing tenants that come with a property.Your mileage may vary,-jl-
I agree 100% that we should be taking deposits for all new tenants. I’m working through implementing the rent credit program and trying to figure out how much to require in deposits. I want to make sure that I’m covered (as much as possible) when someone leaves and I have to replace carpets, paint, repairs, etc.