Any landlord who’s had their
property awhile knows there is plenty that can go wrong with an investment
property.
Managing the upkeep is one thing,
but managing tenants and their relationship with the neighbours. This can be
tricky at the best of times
Barking dogs, strong smells,
rubbish dumpers, renovators, loud music and noisy shift workers are among the
most common complaints from tenants.
One of the major factor’s that
can lead to conflict is because the owner, who wants to make as much money as
they can from their investment property, and then you’ve got the tenant who
wants to make a home and they can be diametrically opposed. Then you’ve got a
property manager they are in the middle, but in the end it also comes back to
the owner to sort out the problem.
So why do you ask do you need a
property manager, well you don’t. With technology in this day and age, you have
other options such as online property management software like RealRentawhich does or can arrange any and everything that a property manager does for
you.
It Seems many landlords forget
that a property needs to be clean and tidy when it’s on the rental market. You
need to look at the property and think, would I be happy to live here?
You should never shirk on
maintaining the property, but you don’t necessarily have to do every little
thing a tenant asks if it’s unreasonable.
for example, if there’s a scratch
on the wall, it doesn’t mean you have to urgently repaint.
You need to explain to the tenant
that there are certain things that you may not have to do and that’s where you can
lean back on the legislation.
But when you can it is always
better off for you to keep your tenants as happy as you can, as it will help
keep a long-term tenant, and dodge the costs of finding new renters.
There’s a costs when re-letting
the property, the cost of having the property vacant and wear and tear when
people move in and out.
One of the main problems encountered
when Tenants move out is settling the bond, differing views over what is ware
& tear and what is a repair the tenant is responsible for.
Things like this can be easily
prevented by having a good enter condition report, which should provide a
solution to any disputes at the end of the tenancy.
As for maintenance, something a
landlord might consider a minor problem can really aggravate a tenant. Try to avoid making your tenants aggravated over minor maintenance delays
by getting any repairs done as soon as possible.
Jason Gwerder
Friday, 16 September 2016
