No matter where your rental properties are located you are obligated as a landlord to provide written notification to a tenant if they breach any of their obligations under the rental agreement, including the maintenance responsibilities indicated below. Make sure to maintain copies of all notices sent to your tenant, whether it’s for breaching a term in the lease agreement, breaching their responsibilities, or paying rent late.

Maintenance responsibilities

  • Keep the premises as clean and safe as conditions permit and cause no unsafe or unsanitary conditions in the common areas and remainder of the premises used by tenant.
  • Dispose of all ashes, rubbish, garbage, and other waste in a clean and safe manner.
  • Keep all plumbing fixtures as clean as their condition permits.
  • Do not deliberately or negligently destroy, deface, damage, or remove any part of the premises. Do not render inoperable the smoke alarm or carbon monoxide alarm provided by the landlord.
  • Comply with any and all obligations arising from current applicable building and housing codes.
  • Be responsible for all damage, defacement, or removal of any property inside the premises unless the damage, defacement or removal was due to ordinary wear and tear, acts of the landlord, defective products supplied or repairs authorized by the landlord, acts of third parties who were not invited by the tenant, or natural forces.
  • Notify Landlord, in writing, of the need for replacement of or repairs to a smoke alarm or carbon monoxide alarm.
  • Replace the batteries as needed during the tenancy, except where the smoke alarm is a tamper-resistant, 10-year lithium battery smoke alarm as required by N.C.G.S.A. § 42-42(a)(5a).

Smoke And Carbon Monoxide Alarm Reimbursement

The tenant has some specific obligations when it comes to the smoke or carbon monoxide alarm. If a smoke alarm or carbon monoxide alarm is disabled or damaged by an action by the tenant, the tenant is required to reimburse the landlord for the reasonable and actual cost for repairing or replacing the smoke alarm or carbon monoxide alarm. This must be done within 30 days of having received written notice from the landlord or any agent of the State or local government. Failure of the tenant to make reimbursement within 30 days constitutes an infraction, and the tenant is then subject to a fine of not more than $100.00 for each violation. The tenant is allowed to temporarily disconnect a smoke alarm or carbon monoxide alarm in a dwelling unit to replace the batteries or when it has been inadvertently activated.