May 2012

May 21, 2012

Cloud Computing for Property Letting /Management

Cloud computing is very much in vogue at the moment. It’s one of the latest “buzz” phrases in business today. But what is it? How can it help you as a property manager?

Simply put, cloud computing is the applications and services offered over the internet. Resources, software, information are shared and delivered as a service. All data and documents are stored on a server. It is not locked to any one device or operating system; it can be accessed by any device that has an internet connection.

Some benefits include:

It’s cheap – no hardware/software upgrades, installation fees etc., all you need is an internet connection
Great Storage capacity
Maintenance is provided by the seller
Flexible – accessible anywhere at any time

There are a vast amount of vendors to choose from for property management applications, Rentview being one of them. With Rentview, a single click of the mouse can inform both the landlord and tenant that rent has been received, send the latter a receipt and update the accounts. All records can be accessed instantly, there’s no need to frantically search the filing cabinet for the relevant document. There’s also an inventory facility, allowing pictures to be uploaded and text to be entered which can go a long way in solving a dispute at the end of the tenancy. It reduces the stress and hassle that comes with managing a property by storing the data in an easily accessible place. Visit the website rentview.com to find out more.

You may also enjoyreading – Landlords accounts and maintaining them

by Andreas Riha

May 11, 2012

Managing property, rentals and landlord deductions through Rentview.com

You’ve advertised the property and found the perfect tenants; all that’s left is the administrative tasks. One of these tasks is collecting the security deposit. The main purpose of a security deposit is protection from costs associated with damages that go beyond normal wear and tear e.g. broken windows, appliances, smoke stains etc. or the non-payment of rent. The deposit is taken at the very start of the tenancy, when all the paperwork is being taken care of. It usually amounts to one month’s rent, although some landlords might ask for six weeks’ worth. A separate document should be prepared when taking the deposit, (preferably on company headed paper) stating the tenants’ name, landlord’s name, agent dealing with the property, the property itself, the amount and the date. The tenant should also receive a receipt for the payment, again on headed paper.

Similar to a previous blog on rent payment issues, landlords can also cause some hassle when they owe money for invoices. You’ve organised for the plumber or the electrician to go to the property to fix whatever the problem is, they’ve done a good job and now they’re waiting to be paid. And waiting. And waiting. This can have severely negative effects on the contacts you’ve built, possibly as bad as ending the relationship. Like tenants, landlords may just need a gentle reminder in the form of a phone call. If that doesn’t work, try moving to an email and if they still haven’t paid then a formal letter. In extreme situations, the pressure that a solicitor can bring might be needed. But take a positive outlook and hope that it won’t come to that!

A solution to this problem would be to offer property management and a rent collection service. Offering a property management service without the collection of the rental payments can result in far more headaches then the additional work in the collection of the rents. Your agency will be able to increase revenues by offering full management and rent collection. Not only will this increase your offering but now you will have happy tenants who are getting issues relating to a problem rectified earlier. Happy tenants = Longer tenancies.

Through Rentview your landlords can see the deductions that will be made in advance of the rental payments being made. This way when the rent comes in you as a rent collection agent can make the deductions and pay your service men on time. Your landlord is kept informed in advance of deductions through his own login to his accounts, your landlord can view the invoice relating to the property and have his end of year accounts only a click of a button away. Your workmen are happy to continue to work for your agency on credit. Its a win, win.

As always please feel free to comment, share, tweet or follow us

You may also enjoy reading – Landlords accounts and maintaining them

by Andreas Riha

May 1, 2012

Final inspection and return of your tenants deposit

So your tenant has just moved out and wants to get their security deposit back. Well just before you do this there are a number of steps to follow to insure everything is in order and the tenant gets the correct amount due.

Inspect the property. This is best done once the tenant has moved out and preferably in your own time rather than the tenant walking around the property with you. You may have built a relationship up with the tenant and having them follow you around whilst looking through the property can be difficult to give a thorough inspection. A couple of pointers here is to check everything for anything above normal wear and tear. Move the furniture about slightly and make sure nothing is wrong with the flooring i.e iron burn mark on carpet caused by a tenant ironing clothes on the floor. Check on both sides of a sofas removable cushion, a common area for liquid stains. Check behind any pictures or posters that were not there before , these can be typically placed to hide any holes or major scuffs on walls.

You might get benefit from reading a previous blog on Wear and tear in a rental property

Inventory. Make sure to go through the inventory, it may appear to have everything in place but its always best to check. If you have no inventory done on this letting make sure to have one on the next letting. (Check out our previous blog on inventory)

Utility readings and accounts being closed. So the tenant has been kind enough to close and forward their account to their new property, excellent but make sure the correct readings were given. Just because a closing bill has been produced it doesn’t mean the readings were accurate; open your meter and double check. A couple of hundred units below the correct readings and this could cost you around €50. Call the utility company and double check.

How to read your electric bill

Waste collection. Similar to that of the utilities some waste collection companies invoice in arrears and they won’t forward the bill on with the previous tenant. They want full payment or no collection of your waste next time around. Waste collection blog

Rental payments up to date. Cross check all your payments received and insure that they tally with all that is due. Sometimes it can be easy to assume that because the tenant paid in full every month when you checked that he continues to do it when you don’t. Rent payment blog

Returning the deposit should be done as promptly as possible for your tenants and the PRTB states it should be done in a speedy fashion. The time limit without a dispute is 2 weeks but this should be ideally done within 48 hours of a tenant leaving the property. This should give you more than enough time to go through everything and more than likely in today’s climate your tenant will be deepening on it.

Whilst some of the above may seem excessive to some it all comes from experience as a property manager and all of the above areas of caution have come up many times.

As always please feel free to comment, share, tweet or follow us

Thanks for reading!!

by Andreas Riha

Letting agency software