Author: Richard Gardner

Landlords – Maintain a Professional Approach

Property investment is a business; landlords should maintain a “professional” approach with tenants instead of a “personal” one.

That way, it is easier to keep emotions intact; this will ensure that you act responsibly and professionally at all times.

Your tenants will respect you more when you treat them as “customers”.

Tips Maintaining a Professional Approach With Your Tenants

1️⃣ Deal with maintenance issues quickly.

Your tenant’s comfort should be a high priority. Hence when your tenant contacts you and asks you to repair something, hire the relevant tradesperson to sort it out as soon as possible, even for something as simple as a dripping tap.

2️⃣ Outline your expectations.

When your tenant knows what you expect from them regarding taking care of the property, they are much more likely to look after your rental property how you want them to.

Having clear expectations right from the start of their tenancy will make a big difference.

By having a suitable tenant inducting process for new tenancies for example, reading over important tenancy agreement clauses, so tenants understand entirely before signing.

And have a vacate checklist of what’s expected of them in how to leave the property in reasonably clean and tidy condition makes for a much smoother transition.

3️⃣ Encourage open communication and be approachable.

If a tenant contacts you, ensure you get back to them as soon as possible.

It pays to be friendly, as this will make your tenant feel comfortable contacting you for assistance. This way, if there’s a problem with the property, your tenant won’t neglect to tell you.

Open communication will also mean you will know sooner if your tenant plans to move out, allowing you more time to prepare to re-lease the property.

4️⃣ Giving customer service to tenants pays off big time.

Yes, managing a property can be hard work at times. But if you treat tenants like customers going above and beyond to look after them.

They’ll probably stay longer, earning you a steady income stream, and you may even find dealing with your tenants is a pleasant experience.

However if managing your own rental is not for you.

Making life easier for landlords is what we do. We would love to manage your property too.

So if you are considering engaging a property manager.

Please feel free to drop me email or call 027 249 8295 📞

Landlords – Tenants are Customers.

Landlords’ tenants are customers, not friends; treating tenants as customers makes it easier to keep emotions intact, ensuring you always act responsibly and professionally.

One of the six common, costly landlord mistakes I wrote about in a blog is not treating tenants like customers.

(Check out six costly landlord mistakes)

Tenants are Customers and Deserve to be Treated as Such.

▶ Landlords provide a place for tenants to live and a service; if something needs repair, you’ll need to get it sorted and maintain the property to a reasonable standard.

▶ Of course, tenants have responsibilities as well.

▶ But if you’re renting property and have no tenant, you have no business, just like a motel with no guests, there’s no business.

▶ Sometimes landlords get this wrong; looking at tenants is a necessary inconvenience if you like.

What if we changed that thinking around and asked?

🟢 What type of product am I providing for my customer?
🟢 How can I improve it to attract an even better tenant customer?
🟢 How do I improve my cash flow and, at the same time, provide better service?

It is Crucial to Position Yourself as the Authority; Don’t Take Off That Professional Hat.

➡ Being friendly and approachable in your relationship with the tenants is one thing.

1️⃣ But make sure you don’t cross the line between professionalism and casual friendship.

2️⃣ Many landlords become friends with their tenants, especially tenants who have occupied the property for an extended period.

3️⃣ Giving them this much freedom may not be good for business.

4️⃣ If you position yourself as a friend, people are more likely to take advantage of you.

5️⃣ Some might even start paying the rent late or skip some altogether because they expect your friendly side to understand their situation.

6️⃣ When running a successful rental property business, you can’t afford any missed rent due to poor tenant relationships.

Remember, you’re looking for Tenants who are Paying Customers, not Friends and Acquaintances.

🟢 First impressions count.
🟢 People never forget how you made them feel.
🟢 Treat people how you want to be treated.
🟢 Be available; ensure tenants know how you can be reached and are available for them.
🟢 Be responsive. Engage in active listening to ensure that the tenant feels heard.
🟢 Look to find a workable solution for any problem, no matter how difficult at the start, this may be.

Making life easier for landlords is what we do.

Smoke Alarms In Rental Properties

It has been seven years since smoke alarms became compulsory in all rental properties, as of March 2018.

For all rental properties, it’s mandatory to have working smoke alarms.

There must be a smoke alarm within 3 m of each bedroom or one every room where a person sleeps.

Alarms installed after 01/07/16 must be either hard-wired or have long-life batteries.

If landlords fail to meet their obligations, they may face financial penalties of up to $7,200.

If tenants fail to meet their obligations, they may face financial penalties of up to $4,000.

Landlords must ensure that all their rental properties meet the smoke alarm requirements to safeguard their tenants.

They should also keep a record of smoke alarm maintenance and testing to demonstrate compliance with regulations.

The best practice is to document the following information and include it in all new tenancy agreements or your ingoing condition reports.

The number & location of each smoke alarm in the property.
At least one alarm per storey/level.
Confirming alarms are within 3 metres of all bedrooms.
The date the smoke alarms were last checked and by whom.
Type and the expiry date if they are a ten-year alarm

While most rental properties in New Zealand will be compliant, there are still some landlords who continue to ignore this law.

Not only that but if your property doesn’t have smoke alarms (or they’re not compliant) you could invalidate your insurance in the event of a claim as a result of a fire.

Remember, smoke alarms save lives.

Watch the smoke alarms video to understand your responsibilities under the 2016 Smoke Alarm Regulations

Testing Smoke Alarms

Unfortunately, testing smoke alarms falls outside the scope of a property manager’s expertise.

However, as a service to our clients, during routine inspections, we will verify that all smoke alarms are present.

All Ways Property is not qualified to and cannot test or check if;

• The decibel sound levels are correct.
• The alarms are functioning %100 correctly.
• Alarms have expired.
• That alarms are maintained to and meet all manufacturers’ instructions.
• Alarms meet all the NZ Fire Safety Regulations.

In a bureaucratic world of compliance and legislation, we strongly recommend independent smoke alarm testing to keep you safe. (to protect butt)

For this reason and for better risk management, we have chosen Smoke Alarm Testing Services (SATS) as our smoke alarm service provider.

They have a very reasonable annual fee of $114, incl. GST covers unlimited visits to the property throughout the year, including testing between new tenancies and discounts for landlords servicing three or more rental properties.

Visit PCNZ

Making life easier for landlords is what we do, want to chat

Drop me an email or call 027 249 8295. al

Rental Property Insurance

Insurance is vital for both landlords and tenants.

Like any business, property investing is about reducing risk. Of course, landlords need to protect their investment with rental property insurance, insuring for any loss or damage.

Special landlord’s risk cover is alternative insurance to protect you against tenant-related risks such as intentional damage to a property caused by the tenant or loss of rental income.

Check out Real Landlord Insurance for landlord specialist risk cover

Tenants should also have content insurance to protect their belongings and personal liability.

Landlords must ensure their insurance provider knows the cover is for a rental property rather than owner-occupied.

Liability For Damage

New legislation took effect on the 27th of August 2019 that affects tenants’ liability for damage.

🟠 When a tenant or a guest causes careless damage to a rental property, they will be liable for the cost of that damage, up to four weeks’ rent or the landlord’s insurance excess, whatever is lower.

🟠 However, if tenants cause intentional damage and when proving this at a tenancy tribunal hearing, the adjudicator may award the total cost to fix or replace the damage, whatever the cost.

🟠 All tenants should be aware, and with new tenancies, we will advise that they consider getting insurance cover if they are not already insured. And recommend they look at a content cover that includes personal liability.

🟠 On all new tenancy agreements, landlords must declare what type of insurance cover they have, whether house rental or landlords full risk cover, including house and contents excesses.

Hassle-Free Management

➡ Apart from ensuring you’ve got the necessary insurance cover, competent Property Management is the best way to reduce risk, whether self-managing your rental property or using a property management company.

➡ Securing a long-term tenant who pays rent on time and looks after your property is critical for an ongoing trouble-free rental.

➡ When selecting a tenant, it is essential to reduce your risk as much as possible by having a comprehensive selection process that allows you to choose the best tenant for your property on merit.

➡ I’ve learnt choosing a suitable tenant is a skill only mastered with training and experience.

Feel free to reach out, making life easier for landlords

Drop me an email or call 027 249 8295.

All Ways Select Reliable Tenants

Property Management And Communication

Unfortunately, communication can get lost in big companies as it gets passed down for job bookings etc.

I recently had an experience engaging a heat pump installer in a prominent firm.

The owner accepted the quote; I notified the tenant for access and then emailed the office confirming where a key would be and the time for access to the property.

All done and dusted, unfortunately, not; the evening before the work was to commence.

The property owner got a text from one of the installers asking how early they could start the work.

So I text the owner back (don’t worry, the jobs booked in already)

Lo and behold 9 p.m. that night, the same guy text’s me asking the same question; clearly, there is a breakdown in the processes and systems when booking jobs.

Chinese Whispers

With larger companies, they must have sound systems and processes that all staff follow.

Otherwise, they end up playing the game Chinese Whispers; you know, there’s a group, say, four people.

The first person whispers a statement to the second person, and so on, and by the time it comes to the last person, it’s an entirely different message.

Everyone has a good laugh, but it’s not so funny in business.

There’s an interesting article at Harvard Business Review titled The Silent Killer of Big Companies worth checking out.

It mentions the importance of leaders who put a premium on ensuring that people in their organization talk with each other, and not just to each other.

Communication Breakdowns In Property Management

In the property management industry, I’m starting to see a trend of landlords and property investors not wanting to work with the big companies so much because of these communication breakdowns.

Yes, some large Property Management operators do a great job because they have their systems and processes in place that everyone follows.

But when communication breaks down, it can be chaos, and the end-user suffers the most, which are the landlords and tenants.

It certainly makes it harder to compete with the smaller independent property management companies like All Ways Property regarding giving great value and service.

Why? because the owner still works on the coal face of their business.

If you want some help with your rental property, Call Richard on 027 249 8295 today.’

Healthy Homes Standards – Please Don’t Shoot The Messenger

Earlier this month, I did a blog on healthy homes standards, and I mentioned there’s still resistance out there with some landlords being reluctant to comply.

Check out the article here ▶ Healthy Homes Standards – Landlords & All The Blasted Red Tape

With some landlords recently engaging us, I’ve had to push hard to get the information we needed to prepare a new tenancy agreement.

And at times this, can be a little bit overwhelming, and I know some clients must think, Man, this guy’s a bit over the top.

But here’s the thing: Tenancy Services and the compliance team audited us twice in August 2020 and again in February 2023.

They check to make sure the tenancy agreements are correct and in line with the residential tenancies act, particularly regarding the healthy homes standards and boy, they are really pedantic.

If you leave a box unticked, they will pull you up on it; for example, with insulation.

You need to declare the date the insulation has been either installed or when assessed, either or, or both if known.

On this particular tenancy, I put down the insulation date assessed and left the installed insulation date blank instead of writing unknown.

Indeed, this is a very minor thing, but the fact that they mention it, my goodness, what would happen if you got a significant point wrong? You would get fined, no doubt about it.

Another example is simply forgetting to click the box confirming insulation is in reasonable condition, Even though you’ve declared that the insulation had been assessed and met the R-value standards.

Or on the healthy home statement, heating must confirm the kilowatts required and that the heat pump capacity does meet the living room capacity KW needed.

But still getting pulled up for not ticking the box (does the tolerance or top-up allowance for existing heater apply) When it’s apparent top-up heating is not required, but you still have to tick the box; how bizarre is that?

In the world, we live in today with legislation and the bureaucratic system; you do have to dot your I’s and cross your T’s.

For more information ➡ Tenancy Services & Healthy Homes

So landlords, please don’t shoot the messenger if your property manager asks for information; they’ve got your best interests at heart.

Please do your best to get that information they need to protect you.

If you want some help with your rental property, Call Richard on 027 249 8295 today.’

Rental Market Supply And Demand

Local Market

The rental market has definitely slowed down on Trademe and Realestate.co.nz; you’ll find there’s quite a number now of listings four weeks & over since they were first listed.

I’m finding tenants have a lot more choice out there in the market, and numbers have dropped at open home viewing from ten to fifteen people at the end of last year; now, on average, three to four groups at an open home.

In my opinion, rents have peaked but not necessarily dropped as yet. I think we will see a correction in the coming months, and the rents will start dropping.

I don’t think the market has entirely caught up as yet, with the rent adjustments because there seems to be more supply than demand now.

Tenants have a lot more choices; they’re not rushing in and applying for the first property that meets most of their needs.

They’re taking their time and looking for a property that suits them best.

If oversupply continues, I believe rents will shift downwards in the coming months, making it more difficult when doing a rental appraisal until we see the shift happen when doing a rental market assessment; it’s better to have a more conservative approach.

This is an interesting article on new builds over supply over the last two years.

As demand slows, the better a rental property fits the masses, the wider the pool of prospective tenants there is and the more likely to rent your property faster.

Generally, there is an order from a higher pool of tenants to a lower pool of demand on types of rental properties.

The highest to lowest demand is as below:

Three to five-bedroom homes
Two bedrooms
One bedroom

What is popular in the current market?

Of course, there will be exceptions to the rule depending on geographic location.

I.e. Wellington or Auckland inner city will be a different market to suburbia Wellington & Auckland and indeed for the Manawatu & the Tararua regions, its families that drive the largest market pool of tenants.

In a slower rental market, you want your rental to appeal to as many tenants as possible, as tenants have much more choice.

✔ The goal is to make your property stand out from other rentals.

If families drive the largest tenant pool, what are the key features that families want in a property?

A reasonable size backyard for the kids to play in
A garage, preferably a double
A decent kitchen and dining room area
Ideally, two bathrooms or at least a second separate toilet
Reasonably easy care section.
Close to schools & bus stops etc.
Suburb and street location
A property fully fenced
Modern décor or recently refurbished
Presented clean and tidy.

The more key features you tick, your rental property will perform better in high and low-demand rental markets.

Sure you will agree there are some general requirements for most tenants.

The point I want to make here is the more a rental property entices the multitudes, the higher the chance of attracting good tenants faster when a rental market has slowed.

If you want some help renting your property, Call Richard on 027 249 8295 📞

Healthy Homes Standards – Landlords & All The Blasted Red Tape

2023 has kicked off to an excellent start.

We are getting quite a few more inquiries from landlords that have typically done their property management, DIY, and their rental properties are coming up for rent.

🚩 I’m finding there’s resistance; they want an easy fix; she’ll be right trying to cut corners; they want it sorted.

🚩 But at the same time still resisting meeting healthy homes standards, which is tenancy law.

🚩 They don’t take it seriously with healthy home standards. They know they should comply, and renting is much more complicated nowadays.

💲Landlords that don’t meet their obligations under the healthy homes standards are in breach of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986. They may be liable for exemplary damages of up to $7,200.

Healthy Homes Standard Third Party Assessment

We recommend getting an independent third-party assessment completed.

You can fill out a compliance statement online through Tenancy Services.

Landlords need to understand the fact of going online and doing their reports that they are making a declaration.

Landlords need to be honest and understand and educate themselves on what’s required with healthy homes.

Like heating and what kilowatts are required and measuring room size; there’s a heating calculator you can use online.

You’ll need to go to the property to check all windows open and close properly and check for window gaps or cracks larger than 3mm, which may cause draughts and that all downpipes flow into the storm water.

Also, you will need to ensure the insulation meets the standards, including a moisture barrier for a house with an enclosed subfloor space.

Check Out Healthy Homes Tenancy Services

But really, why would you not spend a couple of hundred bucks, goodness me. For a professional independent third-party healthy home assessment?

➡ It’s just really important; of course, you’ve got health and safety to look at, smoke alarms, expiry dates, and all this stuff has to be declared on all new tenancies these days.

➡ What is the insurance excess, what type of insurance you covered for, and are the chattels the same excess as the house insurance?

🚩 So getting these wrong can be huge; I think we’re going to find a down the track, you know, some landlords are going to get caught big time with hefty fines for taking this too lightly or for lack of understanding.

Unfortunately, it is what it is, and yes, it can be a pain in the backside.

There are, in my opinion, grey areas with healthy home standards in some instances.

Such as, say, with a house built 30 or 40 years ago, downpipes didn’t always flow into storm water back then.

Water is not running under the house, and it’s still getting away okay onto concrete, but it still won’t comply, which is silly, and in some cases putting in new drainage can be big money.

Most rental properties comply with little cost, and you might have to put extra heating in or close some window gaps and things like that.

But in most instances, it’s not huge cost, and of course, there are benefits for tenants.

With sash windows, we’re finding with older homes; landlords prefer a wooden joiner to close windows properly so that the sash windows swing correctly and the latch closes nicely and tight. It’s done once and done right.

We’ve had tenants mention that it has made an enormous difference.

So if you’re heating that house, now they’ve got the windows closed and secured correctly making it much easier to heat, and, of course, more economical for the tenant.

If you want some help with your rental properties, Call Richard on 027 249 8295 today.’ 📞

Check out out property service to see how we can help you’

Attract Great Tenants – Property Investors – No More Mediocre

Attract Great Tenants - all ways property management palmerston north

There’s no doubt about it a tidy rental property attracts clean, tidy tenants.

A rundown rental property will attract less-than-desirable tenants in most cases.

↩ Is your property performing for you?

↩ Are you struggling to find good tenants?

They may be paying rent on time or most of the time but are they untidy, rubbish left outside around the section and complaints from neighbours?

Or is it difficult, at times, to get access to do repairs or routine Inspections?

These are all indicators that it may be time to upgrade your property.

Now a tidy rental property will attract clean & tidy tenants.

For example, say you have two similar properties.

Both are three-bedroom properties in the same street, same age; one has been renovated, you know, a fresh coat of paint, modern décor, clean and tidy inside, tidy grounds, just presented well.

And the other property is well, shall we say, ordinary, not well presented at all.

Which property would you rent?

You’ll be attracting two completely different types of tenants for both of these properties. And that can be the difference between a top-performing rental property.

It’s not as expensive as you think to upgrade a rental property; look at the basics only when first setting a budget.

There are two critical questions to ask.

➡ What’s the market rent now, and what will the market rent increase to once complete?

➡ What is the equity gain? What’s the current capital value, and what will the capital value increase be once complete?

The rent increase should be able to cover the interest cost for the renovation whether you are borrowing the money or not.

The key here is (investing for a return) that’s why it’s called property investing.

If you want some help with your rental properties, Call Richard on 027 249 8295 today.‘ 📞

Check out out property service to see how we can help you’

Routine Rental Inspections –Are Whites Gloves Really Necessary?

Routine rental Inspection - are white gloves necessary?

Here’s a funny story of a tenant who did not fully understand why property managers go and do routine inspections on rental properties for landlords, which also benefits the tenant.

In this case, I had an indignant tenant; when I did an inspection, the tenant reckoned. I was like in the military, you know, with white gloves going around looking at every crook & cranny.

All we’re doing is ensuring the property is reasonably clean and tidy, and there’s no damage, water leaks or anything that could cause possible damage or unnecessary repairs.

Safeguard Landlords

What we want to do is safeguard the landlord’s insurance cover. If there were an insurance claim, it would be a successful, and there would be no issues.

We always check under the kitchen sink and bathroom basins for water leaks. We check the hot water cupboard and all cylinder pipes etc.

And, of course, we also check smoke alarms are working. We’re not smoke alarm experts, but we’re going to check from a layman’s perspective that everything’s fine. And, of course, the alarm does actually beep.

That’s, what we are there for, and so, this particular tenant commented on my Facebook page something like, gosh, this guy is over the top; why don’t you get out the white gloves?

And I mean, yeah, we hold to high standards, but not unreasonable; we expect tenants to present the property reasonably clean and tidy. And really, what does reasonably clean & tidy mean?

So we have a checklist that we provide tenants on what we believe is clean and tidy.

We ask tenants to sign that they agree at the start of the tenancy, particularly for what’s expected when vacating the property.

Of course, we adhere to that same standard when presenting a property for rent.

There is an expectation, and we send out an initial inspection letter explaining what we are looking for at a routine inspection.

But on the funny side, no, we’re not putting our hands with white gloves on the top of doorway frames to see what dust is there. 😀

If you would like some help with your rental property Call Richard on 027 249 8295 today’📞

Check out out property service to see how we can help you’

Blog

Author: Richard Gardner

Landlords – Maintain a Professional Approach

Tips Maintaining a Professional Approach With Your Tenants

Landlords – Tenants are Customers.

Smoke Alarms In Rental Properties

Testing Smoke Alarms

Rental Property Insurance

Insurance is vital for both landlords and tenants.

Liability For Damage

Hassle-Free Management

Property Management And Communication

Chinese Whispers

Communication Breakdowns In Property Management

Healthy Homes Standards – Please Don’t Shoot The Messenger

Rental Market Supply And Demand

Local Market

The highest to lowest demand is as below:

What is popular in the current market?

Healthy Homes Standards – Landlords & All The Blasted Red Tape

Healthy Homes Standard Third Party Assessment

Attract Great Tenants – Property Investors – No More Mediocre

There’s no doubt about it a tidy rental property attracts clean, tidy tenants.

There are two critical questions to ask.

Routine Rental Inspections –Are Whites Gloves Really Necessary?

Safeguard Landlords

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