Before You Rent With Southern Coast Properties

What You Can Expect From Us and What We Expect From You

At Southern Coast Properties, we believe a successful rental relationship starts with clear expectations.

We manage homes on behalf of property owners who have entrusted us with protecting their investments. At the same time, our residents deserve professional communication, documented processes, and a clear understanding of how their property is managed.

Good property management requires accountability on both sides.

Is Southern Coast Properties the Right Fit for You?

We believe the best rental relationships begin when everyone understands their responsibilities from the start. Southern Coast Properties may be a good fit for you if you are prepared to follow the terms of your lease, communicate with our team, and care for the home you rent.

We expect residents to:

• Maintain the property in a reasonably clean and sanitary condition
• Prevent avoidable damage to the home
• Properly care for flooring, walls, fixtures, appliances, and other property
• Change HVAC filters when required
• Maintain the lawn when required by the lease
• Report maintenance problems promptly rather than allowing them to become larger problems
• Follow all pet requirements, including applicable treatment requirements at move-out
• Have only authorized occupants and pets
• Follow non-smoking requirements
• Obtain authorization before making alterations
• Follow applicable HOA or community requirements
• Return the property as required by the lease, allowing for ordinary wear and tear

A security deposit should not be viewed as your last month's rent.

How You Maintain the Home During Your Tenancy Matters

Our expectations don't begin when you move out.

Southern Coast Properties conducts periodic property inspections throughout the year as permitted by the lease.

We understand that people live in their homes. We aren't looking for perfection. There is, however, a difference between a home that is being lived in and a property that is being neglected, damaged, or maintained in violation of the lease.

If an inspection identifies a lease violation, the resident may receive a lease violation notice and be required to correct the problem within the time permitted by the lease and applicable law.

Our goal is to identify and correct problems before they become more serious or expensive.

We Document the Property From Move-In to Move-Out

Documentation protects both the property owner and the resident.

At move-in, we document the condition of the property, including photographs. Residents receive a copy of the move-in inspection and are given an opportunity to conduct their own inspection and identify anything they believe should be documented.

If something is damaged, stained, scratched, or otherwise imperfect when you move in, we want it documented.

We maintain the move-in documentation, and the resident receives a copy.

We require a written 30 Day Notice signed by the tenant which contains a very detailed move out checklist. This same exact checklist is provided and incorporated into the lease agreement for full transparency of what is expected from the beginning. 

At move-out, another inspection is completed documenting the condition in which the property was returned. The resident receives a copy of the move-out inspection as well.

We then compare the documented move-in condition with the documented move-out condition, taking into consideration applicable credits, agreements, resident documentation, and other relevant records.

Our inspection process includes date- and time-documented photographs to establish when a condition was observed.

We don't want residents charged for damage they didn't cause.

Residents are provided an opportunity to dispute applicable charges and provide information or documentation supporting their position.

However, when the documentation shows that damage did not exist when the resident received the property but did exist when the property was returned, and there is no documentation or other information establishing otherwise, financial responsibility for the damage may fall to the resident as provided by the lease and applicable law.

We don't rely on someone's memory months or years later. We rely on documentation.

We Use Independent Third-Party Vendors

Southern Coast Properties does not have an in-house maintenance team.

We work with independent third-party vendors and contractors for maintenance, repairs, cleaning, flooring, painting, lawn care, and other services.

When professional work is required, the independent vendor determines the work necessary and provides its own estimate or invoice.

Southern Coast Properties does not create a vendor's pricing or determine what an independent company charges for its labor, travel, and materials.

When documented tenant-caused damage requires repair, applicable charges may be based on the third-party cost of addressing that damage, subject to the lease and applicable law.

How Maintenance Requests Are Handled

Maintenance requests are evaluated based on their nature, urgency, and severity.

An urgent issue involving health, safety, habitability, or the potential for significant property damage is handled differently from a routine maintenance request.

Because independent vendors perform the work, completion times can depend on the nature of the repair, vendor availability, parts and materials, access to the property, and owner authorization when required.

We coordinate and follow up on maintenance requests, but our vendors have their own technicians, workloads, and schedules. Some of our owners coordinate and hire their own vendors to conduct the repairs.

Residents also play an important role. We ask residents to:

• Report problems promptly
• Provide accurate information about the issue
• Respond to scheduling requests

• Provide reasonable access which includes securing pets for inspections, filter changes (where applicable), and repairs.

A routine repair may not be completed immediately simply because a work order has been submitted. Urgent and routine maintenance issues cannot always be handled on the same timeline.

Understand the Role of the Property Manager

Southern Coast Properties manages the property. We do not own it.

We act on behalf of property owners and within the authority granted to us under our management agreements.

Certain decisions are ultimately the property owner's decision. Depending upon the circumstances and management agreement, these may include rent, lease terms, concessions, improvements, expenditures, certain repairs, renewals, and other ownership matters.

Our job is to provide information and recommendations when appropriate, administer the lease and management agreement, communicate with the parties, coordinate services, maintain records, and carry out authorized decisions.

Sometimes an owner may say no to a request.

Because Southern Coast Properties communicates that answer, it can appear that we made the decision.

Communicating an owner's decision does not necessarily mean Southern Coast Properties made that decision.

What You Can Expect From Us

Accountability goes both ways.

When you rent a property managed by Southern Coast Properties, you should expect us to:

• Communicate professionally
• Maintain documentation
• Provide you an opportunity to document the condition of your home at move-in
• Conduct and document move-out inspections
• Provide you copies of applicable inspection documentation
• Give you an opportunity to provide information concerning disputed damage charges
• Coordinate reported maintenance issues with appropriate vendors
• Prioritize maintenance according to urgency
• Communicate with property owners when their authorization or decision is required
• Administer the property according to the lease and our management responsibilities

We won't always be able to give everyone the answer they want, and we can't promise that every routine repair will happen immediately.

What we can promise is a process.

We document. We communicate. We coordinate. We follow the lease and our management responsibilities.

In return, we expect our residents to communicate with us, care for the property, provide reasonable access, follow their lease, and fulfill their responsibilities throughout the tenancy.

If those expectations sound reasonable to you, we'd be happy to have you as a Southern Coast Properties resident.