Perry Beebe
02 Jan 14
Most of us have seen in the media at least one horror story about nightmare tenants. To the people watching the programme it is astounding that anyone would choose to live in these dirty conditions, often surrounded by rubbish and old food scraps. Then they think about the money the property owner has lost, firstly in evicting the tenants and secondly cleaning up the mess and repairing the damage. Not to mention the loss of rent whilst the property is being returned to a liveable condition.
Property Owners Don’t Believe it Could Happen to Them
We would love to say that these are isolated incidents sensationalised by the media, but unfortunately, we have seen quite a few of these situations ourselves. We usually become involved when the distraught property owner comes to us for help. Our assistance may be required to evict a problem tenant, to return the property to a good condition, or to find a good quality new tenant. All Residential Real Estate is a professional property management agency, and we are experienced in dealing with these situations and returning these properties to profitable, stress-free investments for their owners.
It Only Takes One Bad Tenant to Cause Havoc
Some of the situations they describe are truly mind-boggling. One Illawarra property owner had a lovely house on a beautiful piece of land and at first, his new tenants were perfect. They paid their rent on time, initially kept the property in top condition and were nice to the neighbours. A relative moved in with them who had a drug habit that he paid for by setting up a hydroponic system in his bedroom to grow cannabis.
After months of loud parties, fights, the sound of smashing inside the house and repeated calls to the police, the whole group left in the middle of the night, leaving the entire property trashed. It took the owner six months to clean it up and repair the damage before he came to see us. This story is an extreme example of what can go wrong – obviously not every bad tenant is a drug runner! Sometimes the tenant may have a tendency to live beyond their means, or their circumstances may change that impacts their ability to pay their rent or look after the property appropriately.
Self Managing a Rental Property Often Turns Nasty
The common denominator we see here at All Residential Real Estate is that in every case we have handled, the properties were being managed by the owner to save the cost of a managing agent. In every case, the owners ended up paying out thousands of dollars in repairs, and lost several thousand more in unpaid rent that they were unable to recover. Since we have been managing their properties, there have been no further such incidents.
We have a very thorough screening process that enables us to select good quality tenants. Our reliable systems and processes ensure that past rental history, credit and employment references are checked and verified. We make it as easy as possible for our tenants to pay their rent and we perform regular inspections to ensure the property is being appropriately looked after. We also respond to maintenance requests promptly and as cost effectively as possible. This ensures a small problem does not become a big expensive issue later on, and also helps set the standard of care we expect from the tenants. If you are having problems with your rental property, we’d be happy to help. Give All Residential Real Estate a call (02 4228 2555) or send us an email (email@arre.com.au).