I am in the process of buying a new primary residence in Phoenix AZ. We will be making our current residence our first rental property! I may have more questions in the coming weeks but the first one is what to do with our koi pond in our back yard. It is quite nice and cost quite a bit to make. I would think it would be an asset down the road if we were to sell the place. I am whoever very nervous about leaving it even empty in the back yard due to liability. It’s about 16’ by 6’ and about 3 foot deep. Anyone have any ideas about what to do, or what you would do? I know people have pools in rental properties but are you required by law to have a gate around them?
Im no expert by any means, but I would fill in the pond. If you were to move back in or want to sell, you could clean it out.
As far as pool fences, I dont believe you are required to have one if your house is a certain age, but with that said, I would put on up anyway. I am in a similar situation in Mesa. I will be fixing my house up a bit and making it my first rental. I will be adding a fence around the pool when that happens.
That will make a GREAT lawsuit. Having the tenant fall into a 3 foot deep hole in the back yard will be hard to defend. I had a tenant with one of those low-life scumbag contingency lawyers try to sue me when she claimed that she fell into the water meter hole after her druggie son removed the cover to hide drugs. They claimed that I should have prevented this unsafe situation.
Good Luck,
Mike
Totally agree with this…“fill it in”.
Fill it in then take pictures to prove that you did fill it in in case of any problems down the line.