A good Property Manager is hard to find but when you finally find one, they are worth their weight in gold – luckily for you, Management Fee’s are significantly less than that.
But when you engage a professional Property Management company, what do you actually get for the fee’s you pay?
Here’s a brief list of some of the key tasks and responsibilities your Property Manager should be doing for you.
Marketing your property
This is the key function to reducing your vacancy rate and making sure you have a constant stream of income coming in from your investment property.
This will include:
- Making sure the property is presented well online including professional photo’s, clear and accurate description of your property, advertising your property on the relevant real estate websites where potential tenants are looking.
- Conducting regular open for inspections to ensure all interested tenants can view the property.
Selecting and securing good tenants
How to find good tenants is something that every Property Manager should be focussed on for each of their vacant rental properties. Every week we receive dozens of applications and have to check each application to ensure we get the best ones for our clients.
This will include:
- Checking previous rental history.
- Checking employment status.
- Checking tenants against ‘bad tenant’ database’s.
- Negotiating the terms of the agreement (Length of lease, start date, price etc).
- Preparing all of the paperwork (including Lease’s and Bonds).
- Conducting an Ingoing Condition Report with detailed photos and notes on the condition of the property when the tenants moved in.
- It’s a very competitive rental market and many tenants are applying for multiple properties each weekend. So it’s very important to make sure there is a quick turn around between a good tenant applying and being secured so that you don’t lose them to another property.
Maintenance
Although nobody loves the unexpected cost of a leaking tap or loose cupboard, making sure your property is well maintained is essential to keeping good tenants and making sure your property doesn’t fall apart.
This will include:
- Contacting you once a maintenance issue has been raised by the tenant.
- Seeking out competitive, qualified tradespeople.
- Coordinating the repairs between the tradespeople and tenants.
- Inspecting and confirming the repairs once they’ve been completed.
- Paying invoices.
Regular Routine Inspections
Making sure your property is well maintained is a key responsibility of your property manager. So part of doing this property is them conducting regular inspections of your property to make sure it’s being well maintained by the tenants and to identify any issues early if they identify any.
This includes:
- Coordinating an inspection with the tenants (In Victoria, we’re able to inspect the property every 6 months).
- Taking photos of the general condition of the property and any issues which require attention by either the tenant or the landlord.
- Preparing a detailed inspection report for the landlord and to keep on file.
- Processing any maintenance identified at the inspection.
- Following up on any issues the tenant was required to attend to.
Making sure you rent is paid on time
When a tenant moves into a property, they agree to pay a sum of money to the owner on a particular day of the month. Your Property Manager is responsible for making sure the agreement is followed and the rent is paid on time.
This will include:
- Making sure your tenants are clearly aware of how much rent they own and how to pay it.
- Calling your tenant if they fall behind on their rent.
- Following up with SMS and emails to confirm they are late in their rental payment.
- Notifying you if the tenant hasn’t paid their rent so you know there is a delay in you receiving your rent payment.
- If the tenant is constantly paying their rent late, issuing them with a breach notice and trying to work out a way to fix the problem.
- If your tenants rent is 14 days late, the property manager can issue them with a Notice to Vacate.
Annually reviewing the rent
The rental market can change quickly, so it’s important to make sure that every 12 months your Property Manager reviews the rent you’re receiving on your property. You want to make sure you’re achieving the best possible rent but also be mindful of wanting to keep good tenants if you have them.
This will include:
- Doing a Market Comparison Report on how similar properties have performed recently
- Making a recommendation to you on their findings and giving you their advice based on how much rent you can achieve and how your good your tenant is
- Negotiating an increase with your tenants
- Preparing all of the relevant paperwork with your tenant
Moving out and Bond disputes
When your tenant gives their Notice to Vacate, it’s the Property Managers responsibility to ensure that the rent is paid up until they move out, the property is professionally cleaned, there is no damage from when they moved in and all keys are returned.
This will include:
- Conducting a Vacate Inspection report once the tenants have cleaned the property and moved out.
- Comparing the condition at the end of the tenancy to the Ingoing Condition Report when the tenants moved in
- If there is any damage (not counting fair wear and tear) then organising for the tenant to repair the issues or organising tradespeople and deducting the cost from the bond
- If the issues can’t be resolved between the Property Manager and the tenant, then this may lead to a VCAT hearing where a member will assess who is responsible and how much they should pay for any damage
Paying accounts
If you own an investment property, you’ll know how many bills you’ll have to stay on top of. From council rates, to Owners Corporation fee’s, insurances, utility bills, maintenance… the list goes on.
Your Property Management agency should be offering to pay these for you which makes it nice and easy to keep track of all of your expenses associated with your investment property at the end of the financial year.
This includes:
- You’ll need to contact all the people who bill you and ask them to send all invoices to your agent.
- As the invoices arrive at the agency, they’ll be scheduled to be paid from the tenants next rental payment.
- You’ll receive a copy of the paid invoice in your monthly statement
- At the end of the Financial Year, you’ll receive a detailed report with all the income generated by the investment property and all of the expenses paid, making it nice and easy for your tax accountant.
