The residential lettings game is your agent minimising the risk or are sales his forte

The professional approach by Tailor Made Letting Agents in Poole Dorset So your a landlord and you hopefully you have found a tenant with a great job and good credit score. So what more can go wrong ? Plenty says Jamie Rolls of Tailor Made Management "In my experience it happens so often where a Landlord deals direct with a tenant that things turn to pot as essentially there can be a clash of personalities over the most minor of issues resulting in failed co-operation" Are you a Landlord who has fallen out with the tenant where the tenant has then gone out of his way to make things as difficult as possible for you directly or through your property agency. Or maybe you are a Landlord and the tenant has fallen out with your Agent. What then?

Residential property management is in many ways a game of chess. A professional experienced rental agent will have come across every possible scenario over many years and learned through their own mistakes or systems what works and what will exacerbate problems as opposed to resolving them. An agent worth his salt will know that in dealing with a rented property issue that tackling the matter in the wrong way can result in total breakdown in communications between all concerned. A letting agent is in-fact only a middle man, yet reality is that he is working for the person that pays him "the owner". The Letting agent therefore must take the role of ambassador to achieve the best result for all concerned. Not easy when your paymaster is the owner yet the tenant is expecting a great service from the agent they chose to rent through.

So the Letting Agent must never fall out with a tenant they must at all costs maintain the communication irrespective of how testing and difficult a tenant may prove to be. The best agents have deaf ears to insults and will simply do what they need to do to make the problem go away. So when a tenant has had no electricity for two days and several electricians cannot find the cause a good agent will ensure that the tenant remains in the loop of every effort made to tackle the issue. Even if its only one line texts or emails. If the tenant can see that there is something happening then it will soften the frustration. Left alone without any news and you may get them festering and be on your way to trading insults, a situation that will leave a barrier between you and the tenant for the rest of the contract.

Maintaining good communication is where a letting agent will excel. At Tailor Made Lettings we have always looked to manage a tenants expectations whilst carrying out the Landlords instructions. The best way to achieve this is to leave very little to chance. The main keyword used in our office is Preconditioning. This means that from day one of marketing a property our policy of preconditioning becomes effective. If an inventory is done attach the carpet cleaning receipt to it and the cleaners bill. In the letter enclosing the inventory mention the clean has been done in readiness for their occupation. prior to the end of the tenancy if they are vacating in a letter make sure you precondition the tenant and recall the cleaning bill suggest that they may like to use the same cleaners where 2 cleaners spent 5 hours cleaning internally. In this way it may mean the tenant will not ask their own cleaning lady to come in for an hour and dust down. This is one example of many where proper management is ensuring a happy ending.

So many times I have been to Letting Agent seminars listened to a speaker then met with fellow agents in the bar and listened to stories of how they do not take any nonsense from a tenant and give them what for. Recently i met an estate agent just going into the property rental business because of the recession, she commented on how after a property inspection she gave the tenant hell because of the state the apartment was in. You can bet your life that the tenant on the firing end of such attitude was belittled and most probably alienated. This means that the Landlords representative may have lost the ability to be able to sensibly deal with the tenant in the future.

Examples The Inspection process My approach to inspections is to drop the tenant a friendly email along the lines of "hi we are due to make a report to the landlord on the progress of the tenancy are there any issues we need to make him aware of. Also advise if we can pop in and do a routine inspection as we would like to confirm to the owner that the apartment is well maintained and would like to send the owner a few pics to support this" Then if an inspection is made and the place is a state, do not go off on one. My line is "thanks for letting us inspect the property it may have been too short notice as photographing it as it was would not reflect well, maybe we can pop back middle next week. What day would be best for you"

The Deposit issue Experience has shown that where good preconditioning has been performed there is less likelihood of fall-outs between parties. Hence prior to a tenant vacating we offer as part of our service a fast track tenant deposit return system where we help the tenant make sure that everything is booked to be done before the hand back day. Again precondition a tenant in a letter suggesting they book a carpet cleaner in early so to avoid stress last minute if none are available. We offer our own people to meet and quote to clean carpet clean or put right any damages. That way we are seen to be working with the tenant to get back the deposit.

Another common error made by many agents renting property is to receive a report from a tenant about some accidental damage. When a tenant reports the damage they often say they will sort it out when they leave and the agent simply thinks yes great make a note of that. This to me is not the correct way to deal with accidental damage. When a tenant leaves a property their minds are usually on the next home not the one they are in. As with all moves costs arise beyond their initial expectations. The last thing a tenant will want to sort out is spending money on the property they are vacating so they move hoping the burnt carpet will have been forgotten. The key here is to tackle the problem on the day you are told about it mid tenancy. Again a letter to thank the tenant for bringing this to your attention and for wanting the matter dealt with and tell the tenant you will send in your carpet man to quote for the damage and you will shop around to find a bargain deal for the tenant. Notify the owner you have sourced a replacement and get the job done ASAP. It means one less issue at the end. These are but a few simple ways in which to tackle matters efficiently. If you have belittled insulted or upset the tenant in anyway then if the day comes he gets made redundant and cannot pay the rent he will simply clam up and avoid having to visit the arrogant agent who he cannot stand.

For the Letting agent Communication is king. I hope you can see that good methodology works and to benefit from such fine tuning can only mean using a specialist property manager. Do you really think the sales agent who dabbles in lettings to pay his stationary bill and rent will have a strategy. Lets face it for the sales agent when the sales market gets busy it will be all hands to the pump. That's the way it is down at the Tailor Made Sandbanks Dorset office and hence we have a separate office and team for rrental management office in Poole town centre.

Tailor Made Letting Agents 234 High Street North Poole Dorset BH15 1DY www.tailormadelettings.co.uk tel. 01202 673454