Renting My House (with pool)

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samo615

samo615

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May 11, 2010
30
I am considering renting my house that has a pool. I am an absolute perfectionist. I have installed the pool pump myself and routinely rebuild the wearing parts on my aquabot cleaner. I maintain the chemicals down to the perfect science. I have learned a lot in this forum.

I am torn at the thought of a renter letting the water drop below the skimmers during the heat of the Texas summer, not emptying the baskets, letting the PSI on the filter get too high. How do you show someone how to backwash? How do you trust someone to test and add chemicals? I could pay someone to come out and work it into the lease price but I don't even know how much businesses charge because I have refused to even let someone touch my pool for the three years I have had it. I could come out myself weekly and do it but my new house has it's own list of chores including maintenance on a new pool. Also, even if I have someone come out weekly, how do you make sure a daily check is done by my tenants? Also, do I need to keep it clean during the winter or close it up and not worry? So many things that make make this complicated.

Has anyone else rented a house with a pool they are accustomed to self-maintaining and how did you approach the situation?
 
I'm in a similar situation and am curious to hear any replies.

Seems Ill have to pay for bi weekly visits from a pool guy, & pass the cost to a tenant, or document that the renter is explicitly responsible for any damage from neglect.


Uncle Dave
 
I have twice in my many years rented houses. Both times I was responsible for interior and exterior maintenance at my expense. Neither had a pool but both had expansive grounds. Mowing and lawn maintenance was my responsibility.

IMO, the same pertains to a pool. You can either make it available to the renter, or not. If not, cover it and go over every so often to put bleach in it. If you do rent the house with pool access, add to the rental contract that the renter is required to maintain it at his/her expense. You can spend the time to teach them how you do it and like it done, or you can give them contact info for pool maintenance companies, or you can let them sink or swim. You can include a 'pool deposit' in the initial rental deposit, refundable if the pool is in acceptable condition when the renter leaves.

It seems to me that someone who has the money to rent a house with a pool also has the wherewithal, intellectually as well as financially, to maintain that feature of the rental.
 
It seems it is easier to find reasons NOT to rent it than to rent it. I think I would be a horrible landlord that drives by daily peeking over the fence with binoculars. "They really need to scrub the sides! and don't they hear the pump ringing because the pressure is 40+?!? Are they leaving the light on 24/7? My poor little aquabot is upside down and no one is home." I think it is difficult to find a renter you can trust on a rental property, and to add in the responsibility and interest of keeping up with a pool... even more difficult. Still interested in hearing a success story.
 
From your initial description, you need to sell your house and Let it Go... Noone will maintain the pool as you wish it to be maintained. You'll be very fortunate to get your monthly payment with a renter let alone expect them to be as meticulous as you describe yourself.
 
I'd close it up and make it unavailable for a renter to use. I can't imagine a renter ever caring for your pool the way you or many of us would want. The only way I would consider allowing it available for use is if it was a rent to own situation (where the renter has a personal stake in taking care of the pool) and even then I'd pay for someone to maintain the pool and pass that along to the renter with a hefty deposit for damage. If the renter is able to prove they will properly care for the pool eventually they could reduce their costs by maintaining the pool themselves but that would be at my discretion after I was confident in their ability to properly do so.
 
The house I am in now is a rent to own type situation. The owners wouldn't have even considered leasing with the pool, but since I grew up with one and helped take care of it, that helped. The owner showed me how to clean the filters (but if you check my previous posts that didn't help lol) and work everything on this pool. The few times that he stopped by to take care of things at the house he saw that the pool was clean and in good shape so it eased his mind that everything was being taken care of.

One of the stipulations was that I had to get a special addendum to my renters insurance that covers liability, damage, and losses up to 300,000.00. The "pool/spa maintenance addendum" I have is specific to the state of Texas, and I see you are in TX as well. If you rent through a realtor they can get this form for you, I wouldn't rent without it.

If it were me, I would say hire a pool service AND make the lessee get the insurance. Mine is through State Farm, and I think it only added about 10 bucks a year to my existing renters policy.
 
That is interesting. I was not aware there was a standard form for this. Do you have the form number so I could google it or was this something the owner created? Great information on the insurance too.

concretegardenstx said:
The house I am in now is a rent to own type situation. The owners wouldn't have even considered leasing with the pool, but since I grew up with one and helped take care of it, that helped. The owner showed me how to clean the filters (but if you check my previous posts that didn't help lol) and work everything on this pool. The few times that he stopped by to take care of things at the house he saw that the pool was clean and in good shape so it eased his mind that everything was being taken care of.

One of the stipulations was that I had to get a special addendum to my renters insurance that covers liability, damage, and losses up to 300,000.00. The "pool/spa maintenance addendum" I have is specific to the state of Texas, and I see you are in TX as well. If you rent through a realtor they can get this form for you, I wouldn't rent without it.

If it were me, I would say hire a pool service AND make the lessee get the insurance. Mine is through State Farm, and I think it only added about 10 bucks a year to my existing renters policy.
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Flotsam...

I think most were giving advice here on the mention that sam0615 calls them self a perfectionist when it comes to pool maintenance. If it's something they are not comfortable worrying about someone else taking care of, even if it's the best of renters, it's not worth the worry. If they decide they are comfortable with the idea I agree some careful screening of possible renters would help, although not guarantee a good outcome.

I have rented in the past and currently have a couple of rental units. I can see the concerns they have because you can't always know how a renter is going to work out even when you get the initial impression everything's going to go great.

You are a renter that takes pride in where you live and enjoy your pool... as you should since you maintain it well. Others are not that way even when they initially present themselves as such. Your landlord should be very happy to have you as a renter.
 
If I rent my house, I would definitely want to find a renter with the sense of responsibility you carry. I have been a renter myself. I planted grass, trimmed bushes and trees, painted walls, rewired a ceiling fan, fixed toilets, rebuilt a sink faucet among other things only to have a $1000 deposit kept for preexisting conditions to the house and normal wear and tear. I did not start this thread to bash renters or anyone in a bad financial place. I'm considering providing my home to strangers and leaving them with a big responsibility that comes with safety concerns, financial cost, and the need for a general interest of daily maintaining something that they do not own.
I wanted some ideas from owners that have rented their home with a pool. This is a DIY forum for pools. Most people in here take a lot of pride in their pools. It is difficult to trust someone to take care of something the way you would... even trusting a pool guy would be difficult for many people in here. Saying that "Renters Suck" was definitely not my intention for the direction of this thread and sorry if you felt that it made a turn that way.

..That is a really nice pool and view by the way. You are renting that? Excellent :)

Flotsam said:
I'm probably going to get severely flamed or banned from this site for this, but here goes ...

I've read a few earlier posts on this subject ... and I've been hesitant to reply and / or express my opinion - until now ... but ... frankly ... I'm appalled at some of the attitudes towards renters. Proper vetting (background/financial check) will (should) eliminate most of the dregs with available cash flow to rent a house with a pool. The prejudicial stereotyping is incredible!

Flame me if you must.
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Gees, renters! Well, I believe you (Flotsam) are an exception to the rule. Sure there are many good renters out in the world, but you have to admit there are many that wouldn't be interested in taking care of the pool like samo615 wants it taken care of. You have to have the right personality to rent. You'll never know what you got until you get it and getting someone like you to rent my home would be a "Dream come true!!!" Personally, I don't rent, but if I did, I too would treat the property with the most respect as I have done in the past even in my 20's. I was always respectful of other people's property. I have six childrent between the ages of 21 and 31 between 2 marriages and quite frankly, I would trust one of them out of the 6 to take care of my pool correctly. I wouldn't rent to any of them at this point of their lives.
 
samo615 said:
That is interesting. I was not aware there was a standard form for this. Do you have the form number so I could google it or was this something the owner created? Great information on the insurance too.
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There wasn't a form number, just the fine print that "this form can only be used by an authorized Texas Realtor, unauthorized copies are prohibited..." et al. The name of the form is "pool/spa maintenance addeundum", so if you can get one from a realtor I would advise it, or maybe you can Google it.
 
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