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Good Morning Property Peeps!
Well today I'm just sitting here at the hub of my lettings world and wondering to myself.... why would you ever want your letting agent not to jump immediately when the tenant requests a fix for a leaky shower or some such small problem in the house?
I hear so much complaining from tenants about their previous agents having not fixed things for them when they got in touch about small, easily fixed issues - and they are right, and the landlords should be shouting even louder if they knew. After all, whether you are a portfolio landlord, or a family who is doing a stint abroad for a few years and renting out your home, that house is still an investment and will devalue if it is not looked after well. The tenants are also an asset to you whilst they are living there, looking after the property nicely, and paying the rent, so they need to be looked after too and here's why:
Treating tenants well pays dividends to you, they stay longer and they have respect for your property, and even the neighbourhood too all making a positive impact on your bank balance in the long run.
So, my thought of the day is simple dear landlords / letting agents - saving a few quid by not fixing things will lose you money in the end. It will also lose you your lovely tenants sooner, and none of these things are good for your investment.
Treat your tenants well and they will treat your property well, and that's good for everyone - it's rental karma!
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2 comments:
Basic article and commonsense really, but to balance this out I would add that the tenant HAS to tell the landlord or agent of a problem in the first place. Not all of them do this.
I have a property where the tenant just moved out. He complained of condensation and mould. I bought a second dehumidifier for the property and gave advice on what to do.
Only yesterday (14th July 2011) I found out the real reason for the condensation. Two of the gas radiators weren't heating up properly meaning the property was cold. The tenant used electric fires as extra heat. This caused excessive moisture and condensation and mould coupled with the fact that he didn't ventilate the property properly.
Had the radiators been looked at and bled or serviced, he wouldn't need to buy and use electric fires and no condensation would've occurred due to the extra fires!
So, all tenants reading this, tell your landlord or agent of the problem soonest. We are NOT mind readers!!!!
As a landlord, I find it quite difficult to know when it's down to the tenant to maintain the property and when I need to get involved!!
One of my long term tenants (3 years)was a large guy (about 20 stone)and when he took a shower the bath leaked into the kitchen thus trashing the kitchen ceiling!! He called me to tell me the bath was leaking, my husband looked and could not work out where it was coming from, so we paid for a plumber, who told us it was the sealant and the weighty guy combined... I paid the plumber and resealed the bath myself... Touch wood it has not leaked since but had to pay for the kitchen ceiling to be redone! I do feel that he should be maintaining the house to a reasonable standard, or am I being a little unreasonable!!??
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