Providing a property management service means to exercise the operation, control, and oversight of your residential property. The management process indicates a need for your property to be cared for, monitored and accountability given for its useful life and condition.
One important role of a Property Manager is to provide a buffer to landlords who want to distance themselves from their tenant by liaising between tenant and landlord and therefore creating that arm’s length approach that the owner requires.
Property Management isn’t just for Landlords who live distant to their properties but also many who live locally, welcome the peace of mind that comes with knowing that their investment is being well looked after by professional staff. It is also a gentle way for new Landlords to find their feet in property investment.
Below is an outline of the service you would expect from any estate agent that you instruct to manage your property;
- The full and proper screening or testing of an applicant’s credit, criminal history, rental history and ability to pay.
- Accepting rent using legal documents approved for the area in which the property is located.
- Mitigation and remediation regarding any maintenance issues, generally within a budget, with prior or conveyed consent via the property owner.
Many clients do not want to be involved in the day to day running of their properties, especially when in full time employment or busy with other commitments. In fact, more and more tenants are now requesting managed properties as it can reduce the potential for conflict. Here are some of the services which are provided;
Rent collection
Ensuring that the tenant(s) set up one single standing order to reach the nominated bank account on or before the rent due date.
Transfer of utilities
We write to the relevant utility companies (water, gas, electric and local council) informing them of the new tenants names and contact details, move in date as well as meter readings. For all managed properties, we supply our address for correspondence.
Arranging repairs and maintenance
We will be the tenants first point of contact as long as we manage your property. The reported issue will be assessed and we will inform the landlord of the problem as well as to propose a suggested solution. As we have preferred suppliers, this enables us to have discounted rates which are passed onto the landlord. We operate on a clear and transparent basis and all invoices are produced upon request.
Management inspections and landlord reports
A property report is usually conducted 50% the way through a tenancy. The benefit of these reports is to enable the agent and landlord to access how the property is being looked after as well as to try and pick up any maintenance issues early on. The benefit of highlighting problems in the early stages generally means that the remedial costs are lower than if dealt with at the end of a tenancy.
Key-holding service
All keys are tagged numerically and recorded securely to enable us to conduct viewings as well as provide access to external contractors. Should the tenants lose their keys, we are able to provide them with copies.
All tenant queries
Quite often tenants will have minor queries with regards to their tenancy as well as the property which require immediate answering and quite often no further action is needed. We are a dedicated resource and are equipped with the knowledge to deal with these queries quickly and efficiently without disturbing the landlord.
Management of the check in and check out process
We arrange the highly recommended inventory and check in for each new tenancy commencing and at the end of that tenancy we ensure the check out is booked.
Arranging renewal tenancies
Ideally, most tenancies should be renewed on the basis that the market value rent is being achieved. This is the preferred result for both tenant and landlord as it reduces the cost of moving for tenants as well as saving the landlord money in terms of agency fees. Renewal fees should always be less than the initial fee for finding you the tenant.
Managing the termination of tenancies
We ensure that tenants are reminded of their responsibilities by ensuring they are aware that they are required to leave the property in the same condition that it was initially let to them at.
Advise on deposit reductions
Once the check out report is received from a 3rd party, we look for any discrepancies in comparison to the inventory and check in report. Knowledge helps us to determine what is considered normal wear during the during of the tenancy and what is considered ‘tear’ or in other words, repairs that are required due to negligence on the tenants part.