Keep Your Tenants Off Your Roofs!

A large roof, even a roof over a porch or deck, can often entice your tenants to use it as a gathering space. It’s not uncommon in Columbus, especially around Ohio State’s campus, to see numerous people hanging out on their roofs. This includes laying out to sunbathe as well as general gathering. More often than not, alcohol is involved.

This is obviously a safety issue, and likely one that is clearly prohibited by your lease agreement. If not, you’ll want to add a clause prohibiting anyone from using any space not specifically designed for gathering.

For example, some roofs have decking and handrails as they are specifically made to be used as a gathering place. Unfortunately, most roofs are not built to support numerous people, and as a result your roof will suffer damage over time as people use it as a party space.

Be smart – send your tenants emails or letters now, before they start partying on your roof, to preemptively end the problem before it begins. Let us monitor your homes, and if we see people on the roofs we’ll take pictures and email them to you. Roof damage can be quite costly, and often times the damage won’t show itself in the form of an annoying interior leak, until long after the damage was initially caused.