Owners of rental properties are concerned about minimizing vacancy time and costs associated with re-renting their property. The lease agreement authorizes the landlord or anyone authorized by the landlord to access their property, to place a lockbox container on the property, and to begin showing the property during the last 30-60 days of the lease agreement.
The Lease Agreement states when the landlord or anyone authorized by landlord can access the property. The Lease Agreement is a binding contract and the owners expect all parties named in the contract to abide by it. Refer to your Lease Agreement for details.
There is no legal statute in Texas on the meaning of Reasonable Hours, however the Centralized Showing Service (CSS) that we use to schedule our showings, operates 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. Liberty Management’s policy for Reasonable Hours for showings on occupied properties is a little more restrictive: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
If you receive a call from CSS to schedule a showing before 9:00 a.m. you can either allow the showing or your can ask to reschedule for after 9:00 a.m. without penalty. The same request can be asked for showings after 8:00 p.m. You can also request a reschedule for the next day between 9:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. with out penalty.
The quicker that we receive an approved application, the sooner the property will go into pending status, and will no longer be shown. It’s not uncommon for the property to be shown only few times before we have an approved application. If you block, decline, or refuse a showing, or otherwise fail to make the property accessible, you will be charged the trip charge stated in your lease agreement. If you repeatedly block or refuse showings, or otherwise fail to make the property accessible, an eviction action may be filed against you.
Via CSS: “Centralized Showing Service (CSS) is the nation’s premiere residential real estate showing service. CSS currently schedules over 15 million showings per year and has over 130,000 REALTOR® members in over 70 markets across the U.S. CSS has operations in Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Kansas City, Raleigh, NC and Charlotte, NC. The success of CSS has grown out of our commitment to provide REALTORS® a quick, courteous and professional way to schedule their showing appointments. Their state-of-the-art website reporting and feedback collection systems is augmented by their high-quality, personalized service.”
CSS uses the Showing Code verification system for secure showings in many markets. Showing Codes ensure that only authorized REALTORS can conduct showings on CSS listings. In addition, unlike a lot of companies that use basic combination lockboxes where anyone could be given the combination, Liberty Management uses electronic iBoxes that record date, time, and identity of the key holder who accesses the property. The iBoxes can only be opened by licensed real estate agents, thereby enabling Liberty Management representatives and cooperating real estate agents to gain access to the property. Not only does CSS track the showings on the property, but our iBoxes also record the showing information. Therefore, we always know when and by whom the property is being accessed.
CSS will ask you if you accept or decline the showing, but CSS will not tell you that if you deny or decline a showing that you may be charged a fee according to your lease agreement. CSS is only a third-party showing service and not a party to your lease agreement. All CSS will do is record if you accepted or declined a showing. If you block, decline, or refuse a showing, or otherwise fail to make the property accessible, you will be charged the trip charge as stated in your lease agreement. If you repeatedly block or refuse showings or otherwise fail to make the property accessible an eviction action may be filed against you.
It is extremely important if you want to be notified in advance of scheduled showings that you verify with the office that the phone numbers on file are correct. Real Estate Agents contact CSS to set up their showings and CSS will then attempt to contact the resident to notify them of the date and time of the upcoming showing. It is considered an attempted call whether or not CSS makes direct contact with the resident, and the agent will still be allowed to show the property. The notifications from CSS are not appointments, there are courtesy notifications to let you know of upcoming showings. If your phone number(s) on file are not current, or if you’re unreachable, no further action will be taken to alert you of a showing.
Please reference your lease agreement:
ACCESS BY LANDLORD: Access: Before accessing the Property, Landlord or anyone authorized by Landlord will attempt to first contact Tenant, but may enter the Property at reasonable times without notice to make repairs or to show the Property to prospective tenants or buyers, inspectors, fire marshals, lenders, appraisers, or insurance agents.
Unfortunately we are not able to control how much notice Real Estate agents give before they set up their showings, they could give very advanced notice or very little.
Please refer to your pet agreement:
ACCESS: Tenant must remove or confine any pet at any time that the pet is likely to limit or prohibit Landlord or other persons access to Property in its entirety as permitted by the lease.
INDEMNIFICATION: Tenant will protect, defend, indemnify, and hold Landlord, Landlord’s property manager, and Landlord’s agents harmless from any damages, costs, attorney’s fees, and expenses that are caused by the act of any pet or Tenant.
DEFAULT: If Tenant breaches any provision in this pet agreement, Landlord may exercise all or any of the remedies described under the lease agreement.
It is too hot outside right now to leave our dog out in the yard all day. If we happen to be away from home when we get a phone call, we may not be able to make it back in time to ensure that the dog is not in the way.
Owners of the property expect residents to abide by their lease agreement. Also the owners also expect the property managers to perform their duties according to the lease agreement to help them minimize their cost and vacancy time.
Pet Agreement says: Tenant must remove or confine any pet at any time that the pet is likely to limit or prohibit Landlord or other persons access to Property in its entirety as permitted by the lease. If residents fail to make the property accessible you will be charged the trip charge stated in your lease agreement. If you repeatedly block or refuse showings or otherwise fail to make the property accessible an eviction action may be filed against you.
If your pet were to bite or injure someone you may be involved in a costly lawsuit. Best course of action is to remove or kennel the pet and help us to get the property rented as quickly as possible. Once the property has an approved application the sooner the property will go into pending status and it will no longer be available for showings to prospective tenants.
It’s not uncommon for the property to only be shown a few times before we have an approved application. Also residents can pay the fee of one month’s rent to remove the lockbox, we will remove the property from the market and not show the property the last 30 days of the lease agreement, because the owner has been justly compensated for the additional time it will take to rent the property after the resident moves out.