Preparing an apartment for rent in Batumi

Preparing an apartment for rent in Batumi takes anything from a few days to a couple of weeks, and most of that time goes on small things the owner stopped noticing long ago. A dripping tap, a stiff balcony door, a stain behind the wardrobe: the owner lives with them for years, but a guest mentions them in a review, and a tenant brings them up when the deposit is returned. So the inspection comes first, and the shopping later.

Condition check: a report with photos of every room

The manager goes through the apartment with a checklist and switches on everything that can be switched on. We run the air conditioners on cooling and on heating and check for smells or drips from the indoor unit. We heat the water heater up to working temperature, run the washing machine on a short cycle and check every burner on the hob and the oven. We open every tap, look under the sink and behind the toilet, and watch how the water goes down the shower's floor drain.

Next come the sockets and the circuit breakers in the consumer unit, the windows and the balcony door, the locks, the internet and the Wi-Fi speed. We look for damp separately: the window reveals, the corners behind wardrobes and the bed, the joints in the bathroom, the bottom of the walls in the hallway. Everything we find is photographed and entered in the condition report. We sort the issues into three groups: what we can fix ourselves in a day, what needs a tradesman, and what already amounts to a renovation.

Minor repairs before the first tenant

The list is usually the same: replace darkened silicone in the bathroom, fit a new shower head and tap aerators, tighten the fittings on cupboards and doors, adjust the windows, change blown bulbs and a cracked socket, touch up the hallway wall. That is one or two visits from a tradesman, and we do this work ourselves, with photos before and after.

In a new build, some of the issues are the developer's responsibility: a crack in the screed, a draughty window, ventilation with no airflow. We record them with photos, pass them on to the developer and meet its technicians on site.

If the inspection shows that a cosmetic touch-up won't be enough, we price the renovation separately. A renovation for short-term guests is done differently from one for a tenant on a one-year lease, and the details are on the pages about renovating an apartment for short-term guests and renovating for a long-term tenant.

What cleaning is needed before the first tenant

If people have been living in the apartment, a deep clean is enough: grease in the kitchen, limescale on the sanitary ware and the shower glass, dust on top of wardrobes and behind appliances, the windows. We wash the air conditioner filters separately, otherwise the first guest will switch it on and notice the smell.

Post-renovation cleaning is different and takes longer. Construction dust sits in the ventilation and in the indoor units of the air conditioners, there is cement residue on the tiles, protective film and adhesive on the windows, and grout marks on the floor. This cleaning is done in two rounds, with the apartment aired in between, otherwise the dust settles again on clean surfaces. Regular cleaning between guests is handled by a separate team, described on the page about cleaning between stays.

What should be in the apartment by arrival day

After the inspection we make a list of what is missing and, separately, of what needs replacing: a sagging mattress, a frying pan with a peeling coating, yellowed pillows. For short-term rental the list is longer: a guest arrives with a suitcase and expects everything to be there already, from a hairdryer to a corkscrew.

We agree the purchases on the list with you, and they are paid for separately, against receipts. Fully furnishing an apartment for guests, with furniture, textiles and appliances, is handled by our furnishing for short-term rental team. Every new item goes into the inventory, and for linen and spare supplies we set aside a lockable cupboard or a shelf in the storeroom.

Photos and the listing

The apartment is photographed last, when the cleaning is finished and the minor repairs are done: photos show everything, down to a bulb that doesn't light. These pictures then serve as a reference. The cleaner and the manager use them to check that after every guest the apartment looks the same as in the listing.

We write the listing for the specific platform: one text and set of rules for Airbnb and Booking, and another for local long-term rental sites. How the shoot works, whose account the listing will be on and how to link the calendars is described on the page about listing on the platforms.

Documents, meters and building rules

On the day the apartment is ready, we photograph the readings on all the meters and record them in the report. We check that there are no arrears for electricity, gas and water: with long-term rental the tenant usually pays these bills, and an old debt is hard to separate from a new one later.

We check the rules for renting out with the building's management company: whether short-term rental is allowed, whether guests have to register at reception, and at what times furniture can be brought in and the service lift used. For the guest or tenant we prepare a short guide: the Wi-Fi, the air conditioner and the water heater, where to turn off the water, where to take the rubbish, the building rules and how to contact the manager.

If the tax question has not been settled yet, settle it before the first guest or tenant. The 5% rate for ordinary residential rental applies if you register with the Revenue Service as a landlord, and the regime for short-term rental is chosen with a tax adviser. There is more on this on the page about rental income tax.

Short-term or long-term: what changes in the preparation

For short-term rental, the apartment is prepared for a new person living in it every few days. It needs a keypad lock or a clear way of handing over keys, enough linen for at least two changes, a guide in two or three languages and photos that make people want to book. Wear is fast here, so fragile decor and anything unnecessary is better put away in advance.

For a tenant on a one-year lease the preparation is shorter but stricter on paperwork. A tenant more often brings their own crockery and small items, and looks at the wardrobes, a place to work and whether everything in the kitchen works. You need a detailed inventory with photos of every item and of any existing scratches, the meter readings in the handover form, a deposit and a lease. The owner's personal belongings are best taken away or gathered in one locked storeroom: the tenant needs empty wardrobes.

How much preparing an apartment for rent in Batumi costs

The management company's work on preparing an apartment costs from 1,200 to 1,800 ₾ per apartment and is paid once. This covers the inspection with a condition report, the lists of repairs and purchases, organising the tradespeople and the cleaning, receiving the purchases, the inventory, the meters and the guide. Furniture, appliances and purchases on the list are not included and are paid for against receipts, and a tradesman's work on minor repairs is charged per visit.

Cleaning, photography and listings are priced as separate lines. A deep clean costs 275–360 ₾, post-renovation cleaning 835–1,080 ₾ and professional photography 330–480 ₾. The price of the work moves towards the upper end with a large floor area, a lot of appliances to check, a long list of minor repairs and the short-term format, where the inventory and the guides are longer. A small apartment with working appliances that the owner has been living in comes closer to the lower end. We name the final cost after the inspection and once the list of work is agreed.