Tenants from heaven

where's the don't like button? I don't like that Biz

 

How come?

 

Probably because they understand both sides of the coin and treat their landlord in a reasonable manner as they would appreciate their tenants treat them.

 

Also perfect landlords are the ones who are also tenants or who have been tenants at some point. Maintenance is approved and done faster which makes the management of their properties easier.

 

I have been a tenant myself so I am now a dream landlord. I treat my tenants very fairly, if something gives up the ghost be it hot water system (Adelaide and Brisbane), electric oven (Brisbane), toilet bowl collapsed (Melbourne), dishwasher (Brisbane), I attend to all these replacements promptly especially hot water systems because of the baby and toddlers.

On the other hand if the tenants signed a lease for a house with no aircon but plenty of fans and great additional insulation in the roof, if they ask for an aircon, I will evaluate for a while as installing an aircon means more maintenance costs.

 

My question is... who here has never been a tenant? I'm going to guess the minority. I'm going to start a thread...

 

There is nothing I love more than quick approval for maintenance. We have installed or repaired over 50 air conditioners this year in properties. There is one landlord who is taking months to make a decision and keeps getting new quotes, each quote varies by $50 and is in the $2500 range. The tenant calls our office every week, the landlord said he would be happy to buy them a fan as compensation for their patience - we had to ring and say NO to the fan, the air cond needs to be replaced. We would have had it done in the first week of being reported. It is now 3 months on and still no air cond...

If there is none there then there is no obligation to install any so all good with that one.

 

We've rented in Canada, I remember reporting a broken air conditioner and a repair person coming in that week with a brand new one. Nothing better than feeling looked after by your landlord.

We've had tenants move from properties into other properties we manage because they like the experience.

It is against legislation to avoid maintenance and since you have to do it, the quicker you do it the better.

 

Xenia, given you are the Senior PM, why don't you do these tenants a favour (assuming they pay their rent on time...) and either put the boot into the recalcitrant landlord really hard or find them a new place with a more appreciative landlord.

Or both?

 

Couple of issues with this.
1) "Put the boot into the landlord" - you are familar that the landlords pay Xenia's wages right, it doesn't matter how senior she is? Obviously Xenia doesn't have to accept all landlord clients, but ditching a client because they aren't super quick with maintenace? Seems extreme.
2) "Find the tenants a new place" - I would suggest that a property manager who intentionally moves a tenant out of a house is going to find themselves short of clients very quickly. She has an obligation to the landlord, not the tenant. Theres a big difference between "oh you're moving out because you want a pool, I just happen to have one available" and "I dislike this landlord, come and move into a different house".

 

My brother is a dream tenant. He moved into a rental last year and has since painted the entire house, fixed a lot of electrical stuff (sparky) and even installed a massive outside shade cover. He would have added a fair bit of value to the home, always pays rent on time.

The house however does not have the best cooling and he and his fiancé have a 1 year old. So they asked the landlord and got a lot of resistance! So much they were going to move out. In the end the landlord said OK to ceiling fans and my brother will install them for nothing.

I thought it was an absolute disgrace and I said I would move out on principal, but before doing so take the shade, paint it back to the hideous yellow it was and stuff up the electrical again.

 

Thanks for your comments, Waldo.

On re-reading Xenia's post (#27), maybe you and I have a different view of what is acceptable behaviour.

If a tenant acts up, generally a PM, acting in their landlord's interest, will make them aware that some kind of rectification is in order. Xenia's post indicates to me (assuming the tenant pays their rent on time) that some kind of "robust" discussion should be had between the PM and the landlord.

Whilst I'm not advocating anything involving a lump of 4 by 2, a bit more than a quiet word might be in order.

In "finding the tenants a new place", I sort of agree with you, however, what I think you actually mean is that a property manager who intentionally moves a tenant out of a house (in the context of both Xenia's and my previous post) is going to find themselves short of "bad" clients very quickly.

And there's only one place for bad clients, and it has a "Half Flush" and "Full Flush" button on the top of it.

If only dream landlords and dream tenants could be matched together by dream property managers (of which I'm sure Xenia is one), wouldn't we all just live in the land of milk and honey?

 

A bad clients money is just as valuable as a good client

 

I see my job as a property manager as being a person that will push for a win/win for both sides.
No I would not cause a vacancy for a landlord - not ever. I have asked landlords to find other agencies in the past. I would do this straight out but "punishing" a landlord for a behaviour that I believe is inappropriate is not something I do - I like to be proactive not passive aggressive.

My job is to encourage landlords to get maintenance done as quick as possible and to educate them on the importance of it so that a vacancy is not caused in the property.

We also try to calm down tenants giving them reasonable time lines of when jobs will be done. Keeping properties tenanted makes our job easier too.

This particular air cond problem got sorted recently, we asked for the numbers of the people he wanted quotes from and got them all done ourselves. Landlord was happy as he got to choose her own trades people and get multiple quotes and we were happy to push it through to completion.

 

My tenants are great! I have had them 9 months and the house is always great for inspections. Since I live locally I am occasionally in the area and every single time I have driven past the yard looks immaculate! The are completely hassle free.