Common Property Rental Mistakes That Can Be Avoided

Management of a rental property can include long hours, emergency work, unusual situations, and a myriad of other factors as it involves dealing with people, which is not always straightforward. As with many property management issues, mistakes can occur, and they can end up being very costly to the owner of the property.

The following mistakes in property rental can have a serious impact and should be avoided at all costs:

Tenant screening
A poor tenant screening practice can lead to trouble as unruly tenants can amongst other things cause damage to the property, pay late rent or no rent at all and engage in disruptive and unlawful behavior. Solving these issues can be a drain on staff time and cause an unnecessary increase in the work load and frustration.

To remove the tenant, an eviction process is required and this can also be time consuming and expensive. An Order of Possession from the Residential Tenancy Branch can take months to obtain, and in that time, the unruly tenant can cause a lot of damage or owe a large sum of unpaid rent.

To prevent this, ensure that the tenant screening process is solid, with credit checks, criminal background checks and rental history. The application form should be comprehensive and detailed asking for enough information with references from the tenant as to make an informed decision. At the same time, it is important that there is no discrimination, and the rental laws are adhered to.

Maintenance handling
Proper maintenance of the property results in a longer life time for assets. Small repair notices if left unattended to, soon become larger issues requiring more time and money to fix, which could have been otherwise avoided if the maintenance was done in a timely manner.

Having an organized system of handling maintenance requests and making the various staff members involved accountable, will prevent costly mistakes. Also having a list of reliable and trustworthy contractors is invaluable.

Regular inspections that could take place monthly or quarterly will help management keep abreast of maintenance issues.

Poor Administrative Organization
It is important to have proper systems in place for aspects of property management such as rent collection, tenant screening, maintenance requests and marketing. Using property management software that is available in the market would help mitigate problems and allow for more efficient business practices.

Property management software is available that can allow renters to pay rent online, schedule maintenance requests, and update their current information.

Regular reports should be printed and circulated to the stakeholders involved regarding various aspects of the business. Trends and variances should be noted and addressed.

Professional property management companies such as ours that use standard operating procedures is an assured way that these property management mistakes do not occur with your property. Contact us and someone from our experienced management team can discuss your needs.