Walking in the shoes of your tenants
When was the last time you took a look at your process from a tenants point of view? We find many agencies will look for areas within their Property Management system to streamline to improve efficiency, but over time as this occurs more the clients end service might be overlooked in certain arears. Here are three quick arears as an example to be reviewed;
1. Arrears automation
Automating arrears messages with standard language for all might be written with a regular oftener in mind and therefore the wording of the message could possibly be stronger than what is required for a tenant who has recently moved in and they could form an opinion of the business which isn’t correct. Could you take a moment to review any automated messages you have setup to go to tenants about arrears and see if these could be altered for tenants under a certain amount of days, and tenants in arrears over your preferred criteria receive a different message?
2. Move in day
If you haven’t moved in a while, you might forget it can be a rollercoaster of excitement and stress with a different turn each minute. As this is something we can anticipate it can a good place to start to review what the experience is like from a tenants point of view. If there is any opportunity for a less than great experience, we could be starting the relationship off on the wrong foot as the individuals might have just had a curveball thrown at them of removalists losing a box, realising their fridge doesn’t fit, or meeting a less than polite new neighbour! If we then have a slightly poor experience all of the troubles from the move could be taken out on the agency.
3. Rental reviews
You have completed your rental review, and all is well! The market is still in the same position as before. You have discussed the recent property inspections with the owner and they are happy to follow your advice to keep things as they are. Update your records, task complete and move on… Well, have we taken a moment to let the tenant know this has taken place? This is great opportunity to have a positive touch point with your tenant who could be a vocal figure in the local community. If we skip this, then the tenant might assume we haven’t completed any review at all and aren’t on top of things. By quickly communicating the rent review with the tenant also gives you an opportunity to encourage the positive actions of; paying rent on time, looking after the property, being polite to deal with.
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