Renting out a house with a pool

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Melt In The Sun

Melt In The Sun

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TFP Expert
LifeTime Supporter
Oct 29, 2009
3,894
Tucson, AZ
Hi all,
My parents just bought a house in our neighborhood with a pool, and are looking to rent it for a couple years until they can make the move out here. We will be managing the rental...so interviewing potential tenants, handling repairs, etc. They've discussed liability with their insurance co., so I think they have that covered.

I am thinking before it's rented we should install an SWG, just for simplicity's sake. Possibly provide a test kit, and point them here...or they can always hire someone to take care of it.

Regarding damage to the plaster through mismanagement of water chemistry, has anyone set something up in the contract to cover that possibility? Obviously the deposit wouldn't cover the cost of a replaster if things went really horribly wrong...

Any thoughts are appreciated.
 
I would almost make it a requirement that they join TFP, but that's just not practical, is it.

At the least, I would teach the tenants proper pool care, and offer to purchase their test kit. Refills would be their responsibility.
 
I am curious to see what people suggest.

I would think there should certainly be something in the lease agreement that states the renters are responsible for pool maintenance (whether they hire it out or not) and that there should be some clause for damages due to neglect.

I do think the SWG would be a good idea ... even if they end up hiring someone to check the chemistry. At least then hopefully the service would not jack the CYA sky high and should really only have to watch the pH.

Maybe they could pay you to maintain it. Should be easy enough if you put a SWG in to stop by 1-2 times a week to check things out ;)

Or ... if doing it yourself is a possibility ... raise the rent a bit to cover the pool maintenance and have your parents give you a kick-back :D
 
Yeah, regular inspections will be part of the contract. My dad just agreed to putting in the SWG, so that should make all of our lives easier...they just need to keep some acid on hand and know how to use an FC and pH test.

I could probably make them join, but you know what they say about horses and water. I just don't want to get called about green water.
 
personally I'm kinda a control freak, and I would hire a pool company myself (make it part of their rent).

I would still have a clause about the pool in the contract. I've found that too often renters are incredibly lazy...even if you give them air filters for the a/c they won't spend the time to change them out...trusting them with pool maintenance scares the heck out of me.
 
mrcarcrazy said:
personally I'm kinda a control freak, and I would hire a pool company myself (make it part of their rent).

I would still have a clause about the pool in the contract. I've found that too often renters are incredibly lazy...even if you give them air filters for the a/c they won't spend the time to change them out...trusting them with pool maintenance scares the heck out of me.
Click to expand...

Yes I agree about hiring a reputable pool company and include that cost in the rent. To rely on the tenants would be a big mistake IMO. There was a post just recently about someone who had rented out their house for a couple of years and had problems with the pool surface due to the tenant.
 
That seems like it would be impossible to prove that the renter was the one that ruined the pool finish. Seems like there would be to many pre-existing variables to make them financially liable. Like previous posters I would boost the rent and hope for the best then someday have it re-done with pebble so its not so much of an issue. Best of luck.
 

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I once rented a home with a pool. Pool maintenance was part of our rent; the owners hired a pool maintenance company since they were not in the area. As a renter I didn't have any experience with pools so I would agree with some of the others, have someone else handle that part so you don't run into any issues. If you hire a pool company, you can have them report the condition of the pool to you so you can jump in when you need. As a pool owner for now over 10 years, it took me quite a while to understand normal maintenance....I still go to Leslie's to get my pool water read! Good luck!
 
arrockey said:
I still go to Leslie's to get my pool water read! Good luck!
Click to expand...
Well I certainly hope that after being in this forum for a little while you will realize that getting yourself one of the Recommended Test Kits and testing yourself is the cornerstone of the methods we teach and it WILL end up costing you less money to maintain you pool than trusting what the pool store sells you.
 
The last house I rented, the owner had a pool service that I was responsible for paying. After the first time they came out and I saw what little he did, I said no way I'm paying for that. That's when I joined TFP and fired the pool company!!!
 
Thanks for all the input! We are still trying to decide what to do. I do not want to be the pool guy making a weekly visit, so we are thinking of finding a service and including it in the rent...

First test of the pool:
FC 25 (I did that, just dumped bleach in a big hurry and mixed it with the brush, power was off!)
CC 0
pH 7.0 (now)
TA 340 (!!!!)
CH >1000 didn't want to waste all my drops
CYA about 300

Someone was clueless...there are big sacks of CH and TA increaser in the garage, along with a huge box of dichlor shock packs and 2 bottles of liquid stabilizer. Hooray for a 100% drain!
 
Never having used a DE filter or push-pull valve before, can I drain this by taking out the grids and running it in backwash mode, pulling from the main drains? Seems like it would work? I'll have to do a thorough cleaning of the filter anyway.
 
Just remember if you are the one making weekly pool visits you will likely spot other issues that may be going on with the renters that a pool service would not care about. It really is amazing the things that happen with renters, my mother in law has a rent house (house has been in her family for 5 generations), nothing fancy 2 bedroom 1 bath about 1,000 sq ft in a fairly good older neighborhood in a small town, house was built around 1910. Out of the 8-10 renters over the last 5 or 6 years since she acquired the house from another family member there has yet to be a "good" one. Several have started off good, and it has went down from there. Some of the worst examples include, a man that lost his job while renting the house, as the money ran out he stopped paying bills, so electricity was turned off, he did not clean out the fridge, started using a kerosene heater to keep the house warm, which ruined the carpet and ceiling, all this was found out when the police called my mother in law when they caught him breaking down the door of the house because he had lost his keys. Another fine example of darwin contenders occurred just this last holiday season, the new husband of the existing renter apparently received a compound bow for christmas and decided to do some target practice in the yard, using the detached laundry shed (which has metal siding) as a back stop for his target, this shed contains the washing machine and gas dryer along with the gas water heater. This was discovered when they called about flooding in the laundry shed on new years day, it turns out one of his practice arrows missed the target and went through the wall of the shed severing the recently replaced PEX water line going to the washing machine. Thankfully he did not hit one of the gas flex hoses.

Ike
 

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