How To Be A Good Landlord

1.Don’t be unreasonable – yes it is technically your house, but that doesn’t mean you can turn up at all times of the day or night, that you can store your belongings there or treat the tenant’s like they belong to you. Make sure you always give required notice before turning up to the property, and even then think to yourself – “Would I be ok with a stranger coming to my house on that day?” I had a landlord once – after giving the required notice – spend pretty much the whole Easter long weekend doing work in the garden of her rental property. Legally she was doing nothing wrong, but I felt so bad for the tenant’s who couldn’t enjoy the holiday fully, knowing that the owner was there from dawn to dusk.

2.Unless it’s your trade, don’t carry out your own repairs – If you’re an electrician, great! Do the electrical work. If you’re a painter, awesome! Do the painting. If you’re an accountant, don’t expect to be able to do the plumbing work just because you’ve replaced washers at home! Everyone wants to save a few dollars, that’s understandable, but doing work that you’re not qualified or licensed to do can end up costing thousands in repairs. It’s not worth it in the long run, and can be messy legally.

3.Don’t discriminate. This is illegal! - I can’t believe the amount of times when I’m going through a great application form with a landlord only to have them ask “are they, you know...?” Yes I know exactly what you mean and it’s disgusting! I get endless joy playing dumb, and answering the above question with “Working? Yes they have a full time job, which they’ve been at for 3 years,” or “Young? Not really, they’re in their mid thirties,” Skin colour, race or religion does not make a difference if they’ve got a good application.

4.Don’t quibble about the small stuff. - There’s a power point not working, let me get an electrician to look at it and it will cost maybe $60-$70. Do I really need to call you and tell you how it’s not working? Why it’s not working? How long it hasn’t worked for? Who’s responsible? You’re paying me to look after your property, let me look after your property!

5.Understand fair wear and tear. Look into depreciation. It’s only a certain amount of years before the brand new carpet you had laid will be fully depreciated and legally worth nothing. The same goes when it comes to paint, window coverings, floor coverings, everything! So if you put new tiles in the kitchen and then proceed to have a couple of tenants come and go, you need to expect that the tiles are not going to be brand new forever. People drop things, it doesn’t mean that if there’s a crack in the tiles that they need to get the whole thing done again.

6.Don’t delay the inevitable. If there’s a problem with something at the house that needs repair – like a leaking roof – just get it fixed, regardless of whether this is because of broken tiles or something else, don’t ask for a full report as to what is causing the problem if the end result is still going to be the same.

7.Return calls. To you a dripping tap might only be a small issue, and you’ll call back when you get the chance to authorise the repair. The sooner you get this underway the better, tenants can seek compensation for the lost water, or for other matters for hardship endured. Someone is waiting to hear from you, don’t keep them waiting.

8.Read reports that are sent to you. If you own a house, chances are that means you’re an adult, you should not have to be spoon fed the whole process. If you have an agent managing the property on your behalf, and they’ve gone to the trouble of doing a routine inspection, and they’ve sent you a report, read it. There could be important information in it that you need to know. The agent has done their part and sent you the report, it’s now up to you to read it, and decide what you want done.

9.Don’t be greedy – Yes your house may be worth another $10 per week, but if you’ve got great tenants living there, do you really need to serve them a rent increase notice? Wouldn’t you prefer to know that they’re going to stay there for longer, and continue looking after your property? Or what if they were to move out over this $10? Even if the house is empty for just 1 week, that $10 is going to take a long time to make back.

10.Don’t promise the World, and only provide a village. - If you tell your tenant you’re going to do something for them, follow through with it, otherwise they’ll be expecting it until you come through with it. Don’t promise new carpet, and then hold off on it until they move out. Don’t promise a new fence, and then only do repairs to the existing one. Don’t promise a new oven, and only supply a second hand one. While none of these offers are considered unreasonable you’ve set your tenants up for disappointment. You’re better off offering less, and then if more is an option look into it then, as a surprise bonus!

Hopefully the end of a dry spell!

I know it's been a long time between posts, but I promise I have still be writing for the blog. It's just taken me longer then expected to sort out my incoherant thoughts!

What is due to follow shortly is basically a list of Do's and Dont's for landlords and tenants alike. I feel like I could have continued writing this thing for years, but I've tried to stop myself from repeating myself as much as possible. I swear, some time it's like wanting to shake people to make sure it's sinking in! I could give this list to all of my landlords and tenants, and constantly refer them back to the list whenever they ask me a stupid question, but it still feels like talking to a brick wall.

Why do people think certain things don't apply to them? But I digress, if everyone were to read these lists, and at the same time apply basic rules of common courtesy and decency, then my job would be so much easier! It would be a giant step towards making the world a better place to live!! Well, maybe that's a slight exageration, but it's such a small thing, that would help us all get along!

I still have a few kinks to iron out, but the first post to this series should be up over the next couple of days. I apologise in advance, but the tenant list will span several posts, where as the landlord list will be much shorter.