Page 10 – The software for estate & letting agents.

July 4, 2012

Infographic: Tenants and Landlords Property Management

Tenants and Landlords Property Management

Welcome to the very first infographic from Rentview. We’re always looking at new ways to provide content for the property management industry and we have started with this analysis on tenants who are currently living in rented accommodation. From our survey of renters in Ireland, here are some of the interesting facts and figures we discovered 🙂

tenants and landlords property management

Some quick notes on the figures above for tenants and landlords property management:

Firstly the rent collection process from landlords or agents is quite varied, from physically collecting the rent from the tenant to transferring the money via online banking. Standing order, one of the cheapest methods and more efficient for collecting a tenant’s rent placed third in the list of options, which do you think works best?

Interestingly a whopping 74% currently do not receive a receipt for their rental payments. I have always requested a receipt from my landlord when paying to ensure there is no possible reason for disagreements over moneys paid throughout the year, and secondly its a great form of reference to apply for credit in the future. What’s your opinion?

Our third section is slightly worrying for me, as over 50% of the 100 tenants we surveyed noted difficulties in contacting their property manager or landlord throughout their tenancy. I personally would wonder how any agency is going to consistently maintain there tenant base when they are facing such issues.

Finally we questioned the renters of Ireland on their experiences in securing a rent reference after their tenancy, most landlords and agents were happy to give out references promptly to their tenants (44%) while only 24% had difficulty in securing a reference.

Other infographics you might like-

Landlords and property management infographic

The Dublin rental market infographic

by Andreas Riha

July 2, 2012

Rent collection within your letting agency

So you want to streamline the rent collection service you are offering within your agency?

Having administration problems collecting rental payments from your tenants? Are tenants dropping by your office and paying cash in rent or worse still, are you dropping by the late properties and collecting rental payments from tenants? Administration and time-consuming nightmare!

Are you aware that as of July 6^th 2012 the Property Services (Regulation) Act 2011 states that your client’s account needs to be totally transparent and audited at the year’s end? Have you the correct paper trail put in place to track everything?

So apart from the headaches in collecting rental payments in cash and lodged by tenants in cash, there is also a significant cost in doing this. This is a great opportunity for you to streamline the rental management side of your business.

There are a number of steps needed to be taken in order to streamline the rent collection service:

1. Client’s Rental account. This is a must and the very first step which needs to be taken. If you do not have a rental client’s account, get in contact with your bank manager and set one up. This is quite an easy process and your bank will be happy to facilitate this.

2. Banking online. If you do not use banking online yet, get it set up immediately and have the ability to access the rental client’s account.

3. Set up a launch date to have your tenants pay into your rental client account. If you have a number of tenants that pay directly into your office or lodge in cash to your rental account who are mid-lease, inform them of the changes being launched. Set a realistic launch date. Say perhaps 6 weeks away. This should give ample time for tenants to set up a standing order from their bank accounts to yours. This may not be to every tenant’s liking, but it’s essential for your business. Not only does it cost you when you or tenants lodge in cash(typically .5% of a lodgement is a charge) but it’s unsafe and an administration nightmare.

4. Issue your tenants with a standing order and ensure they return it to you signed and referenced. The standing order should have a start date (at the latest their second next payment due) and a end date (the end date should be the 11 month of the lease i.e if the lease if up on the 1st of September then the last rental payment should be the 1^st of August). A standing order can run without an end date also. It is essential to have the rental payment referenced. The receivers reference is what needs to be filled out on the standing order so once the payment reaches your account you know what it is for. Rentview issue a lease code for each lease you are managing. The lease code is an 8 digit code mixed of letters and numbers (which will never be duplicated). You may also want to use the first line of address but this may be duplicated in time. Lastly, submit the standing order with the tenant’s bank. This can be done by post or by handing it into a branch.

You can fill out a standing order form for a tenant and get the forms from a branch of a bank or online. Here is an example of a Standing order form from AIB. Remember you need to get the tenant to sign this.

You may also use a white labelled standing order form as seen here.

rent-collection

5. Setting up new properties with a rental management collection. This is very similar to above. Typically the first monthly payment is paid up front with the deposit on signing of the lease. If this is the case, the first payment collected via the standing order would be for the 2^nd rental payment (if the lease was signed on the 1^st of July the 1st payment collected via standing order shall be the 1^st of august)

6. Monitoring the payments. For effective rental management, the client’s account should be checked every day a rental payment is due or if payments are outstanding. Once a payment is made, the rent should be forwarded to your landlord’s rent account. This should be preferably done electronically through online banking (more efficient and it costs less than issuing a cheque). Any deductions and management fees should be withheld. All in-house fees should be transferred weekly to the business account. It is good practice to clear the clients rental account weekly to “0” or just the holding of rental deposits. In most cases, a second client’s deposit account should be set up to hold these.

7. Rental payment receipts. As payments are received electronically, a rent receipt should be issued to the tenant in line with the tenancies act. Through Rentview, as you process payments as ‘received’, your tenant is automatically sent a rent receipt via email.

8. Non-paying tenants. If a tenant fails to pay on time, the tenant should be contacted and after a grace period of say 3 working days, a rent arrears notice should be issued. This is best industry practice and should be enough of a deterrent for the tenant to pay on time in the future. The longer a tenant does not pay and no rent arrears notice is issued, the longer the agency is exposing the landlord to potential losses. The Rentview system will automatically generate the rent arrears notice in line with the Tenancies Act 2004.

9. Landlord’s accounts & end of year statement. A copy of the landlord’s accounts which shows all deductions and invoices should be kept for the landlord at all times. Through Rentview your landlord will be able to access their accounts at any stage, once given access by your agency. If you do not wish to give landlords access, the accounts can be printed off at any stage.

As always we would love to hear your feedback on this topic. Is there a topic you would like discussed?

by Andreas Riha

June 29, 2012

Property Services Regulation Act 2011

Property-Services-Regulation-Act-2011

Property Services Regulation Act 2011 – how it will affect you?

With the deadline rapidly approaching, the old Auctioneers licensing law issued by The Courts and Revenue is expiring and the new Property Services Regulation Act 2011 is approaching. As of the 6th of July 2012, all letting agents and management agents must be licensed by the NPSRA.

One of the main functions of the Authority is the licensing of Property Services Providers (i.e. Auctioneers/Estate Agents, Letting Agents and Management Agents). It will take over the licensing of Auctioneers/Estate Agents and Letting Agents from the Courts and Revenue Commissioners and also license, for the first time, Management Agents.

The Act defines four separate types of property service

The auction of property other than land;
The purchase or sale, by whatever means, of land;
The letting of land; and,
Property management services

Click Here for a Guide to becoming a Licensed Property Services Provider

If you are providing any of these services and have not submitted your application, you should do so immediately. There is a grace period where if you have submitted your application prior to July 6th 2012 you may still continue offering these services. However, if you continue to offer these services and have not been licensed or submitted your application, you are breaking the law.

Here is a list of Licensed Auctioneers by county care of the NPSRA for the year 2013.

As always, we would be happy to hear your feedback on this topic.

by Andreas Riha

June 28, 2012

Automatically generating agency invoices

Product Development Update- After listening to agencies through out the country we understand that a huge headache for agents is generating the invoices for fees to landlords. Whilst its great to have the ability to generate an invoice as it represents revenue it can sometimes be a pain to generate the invoice. Not anymore!!

Now through Rentview you can generate an invoice for your agency in seconds, not only will the invoice be branded towards your agency but as always with Rentview’s Transparency it can be viewed on line for your landlords through their secure login via your agencies Sub domain.

Rentview’s application will also pre-set your monthly management invoices for the period of the lease. All agency invoices which are generate are located in your agency account section and with one print off you can have your end of month, quarter or annual vat returns ready.

Now letting agents can focus on what they do best.. Letting properties

Generating Agency Invoices with Rentview.com from Rentview on Vimeo.

As always we would be happy to hear your feedback on this topic.

Please feel free to comment, share , tweet etc.

by Rentview

June 27, 2012

Product Development : Automaton of the Lease Agreement

Just a quick blog post to inform our customers of a great new feature we have added to the property management software on all three Rentview packages lite, premium and enterprise.The lease generator will create a lease once you input the date relating to the rental property and specfic lease. The only field which you may wish to change per lease is the special conditions field. This field has the ability to input up to 1000 characters and will be located on the last page of the lease.

Once the lease is generated you will have the option to share it with your tenants, they will be emailed through Rentview informing them that a lease is now ready to be viewed on their Rentview account. (This of course is only possible once you add a tenants email address) So no longer will you go to sign a lease with a tenant only to find that the tenant wants to read through the document. This wouldn’t be a problem normally for an agent but when you only have put €1 in the parking meter the pressure can mount!

by Rentview

(Source: http://vimeo.com/)

June 26, 2012

Information Systems Planning for Letting Agents Part Two

Continuing on from last weeks post where we discussed the placement that software programs may have in an agencies overall strategy today we begin to look at the five steps of the IS (Information Systems) plan which is adapted from Gabrielle Piccoli book on Information Systems for Managers.

Step One: Know who you are, strategic business planning.

Always ensure there is a long term plan for the overall direction of the agency before developing your IS plan. Software is an enabler of such plans, for example as an agency you may want to grow the business to a stage where you will require more offices/branches. In this case you may pursue a software package that is going to help catch tenants and landlords attention and improve the value you provide to your customer. On the flip side your costs may be badly affecting profits so you may be in pursuit of a system which will significantly reduce administration costs such as printing and accounts management. So you have an idea of why you need the software now its time for step two.

Step two: Know where you start: Information Systems Assessment

Once the agency has a clear grasp on the role of software in the organisation we must assess the current situation your letting agent is in. So there is a few key things we do here, firstly note the different types of software or hardware you use to manage data. Is Microsoft excel your one stop shop for accounts? Is all written communication with landlords done via you E-mail account etc? How are sales calls and service calls recorded and managed? Where are invoices stored and managed and so on? Basically you want to access the role systems even as basic as Microsoft word are working for your agency and especially to access if they’re effective in terms of the business strategy.

Thats the technical side of the assessment but don’t forget the people. Planning for the use of IS or software programs always involves four things people,technology,process and structure, each interlinked for ensuring efficient use of IS or software programs. Question your staff members or in the case of an individual running an agency on the use of such systems and what they may lack or require to help you. For example you may have the latest accounts management system for dealing with all your inbound and outbound payments but if the staff are struggling to use the system then it may not be effective for the business. I have often heard of payments being missed by an agent or landlord due to basic mismanagement of information where the software didn’t ensure payments are received etc, there is numerous other things you may notice at this point. All of this then leads to the main step which is creating the vision for IS in the agency, that will be discussed in the next blog 🙂 Please comment with your thoughts and share if you found this useful or interesting.

Information systems planning for letting agents part one

by Rentview

June 25, 2012

How to read your electricity / gas bill with Electric Ireland

“How come my bill is so high?” As a letting agent or landlord a common question you may get from a tenant is exactly that. In most cases its not that the bill is so high its about understanding the bill. For some tenants they may not be familiar with how the utility companies work. This can be the case for first time tenants and foreign tenants renting in Ireland for the first time more so. They may not be familiar with deposits or how the billing system works.

Through this useful link provided by Electric Ireland you can now see what exactly everything means. Now the next time you get a call from a tenant asking “How Come my energy bills are so high” you can go through the bill and help them understand what everything means.

From my own experience a lot of the times I got asked this question was based on 2 points.

1. Reading was an estimate. A bill can be estimated when the meter reader employed by the utility company to visit a property and read residential readings could not gain access to the meter. (Meters can be located inside a property and sometimes locked away in communal meter rooms) If this is the case the utility company estimates the readings based on previous consumption.

2. Security Deposit. When you open a new utility account the provider in most cases will seek a security deposit against the account. This has been brought out over the last few years to help protect the utility company against tenants absconding with a large unpaid bill.

You may also find our previous Blog on: Opening an account with an energy provider useful

Click through here to view the interactive bill Reading your electricity / gas bill with Electric Ireland

As always we would be happy to hear your feedback on this topic.

Please feel free to comment, share , tweet etc.

by Andreas Riha

June 25, 2012

Rental property availability Ireland

With seasonal adjustments the summer months of June & July have traditionally been the months with most available properties to let across Ireland. One of the main reasons behind this is the large amount of student rentals that are available to let over the summer period. During the months of August and September the number of available units should decrease. If we look at the Dublin rental market going by the leading property rental adversing site Daft.ie the number of advertised units in Dublin was somewhere around the mid 3,000’s today it is somewhere around 4,800. That is an increase of over 35%.

So does that mean that with more availability rents are adjusting downwards? Typically not, competition for properties will pick up significantly over the next couple of months and most landlords will hold out to secure the best rent. Also with the recent reports out that rents are increasing however marginal landlords are not willing to reduce. Some however may be to let their property now at a good rate rather than wait the extra month to fill the property.

As always we would be happy to hear your feedback on this topic.

Please feel free to comment, share , tweet etc.

by Andreas Riha

June 19, 2012

Information Systems Planning for Letting Agents Part One

Back again to discuss the process of software adaption for Letting agents and planning its incorporation into the organisation. Some clients I have dealt with over the previous months have found it difficult in getting up and running with the use of Rentview property management software and this series of blogs will look to guide agencies on there planning and integration of software solutions such as the cloud based property management system we offer. Firstly i want to point out the illustration below which shows different levels of IT focus and planning in organisations, these survey results are taken from Gabriele Piccoli.

What this illustration shows is that a strong focus on the use of IT and software programs and long term planning is essential to achieving a competitive differentiation in your market, whether you are a Letting Agent or a large Multi national company, the opportunity is there. They have classified IT into three stages supplier, aligned with business and competitive differentiation. If you think about some of the most successful companies in Ireland such as Tesco or closer to the property industry Daft.ie we can see how their use of IT and software has allowed them to differentiate themselves. Who is to say that you cant allow software to take a pivotal role in your agencies strategy and long term goals.

Before I get into the planning process (the next blog) which will help you understand and establish the role you want IT or software to play in your organisation its important to note some of the main reasons or benefits of creating the plan.

#1- Unity of Purpose, businesses achieve their best results through planning with a clear strategy/goals in place. The deployment of software can allow people to take responsibility with different roles specified to staff members. Using Rentview as the example you may request different property managers to partake in different tasks, one may be responsible for managing the schedule and statements to mark money coming in and out while someone else may be responsible for uploading all let only clients onto the software to market your management package etc

#2 Simplifying decision over time, without a plan in place on the use of software in the company there is no context then for future decision making. Any potential project selections being made as part of a yearly budget process will then have little sense of overall direction or meaning.

Information systems planning for letting agents part two

by Rentview

June 18, 2012

Strategic Alignment for a Letting Agency

Strategic alignment refers to the closeness of the relationship between company CEO’s or senior management and Information systems managers, or those workers heavily involved with the use of technology and software in the work place. Aligning the information system’s purpose and direction with the overall direction of the firm is a vital for long-term success.

The purpose of this blog is to help agencies and other companies alike to understand the process of aligning the needs of the organisation. After a year of learning about the role of information systems in organisations today, one thing was clear to me in my studies; it’s all about the planning.

Opportunities come and go fast, so it is important for all management to sit down and plan the role of information systems in the organisation. There are some key PEOPLE that an organisation needs to look at first; general managers, functional managers and the end-user are all important when making a decision on the use of information systems. For example, if you are debating whether to purchase property management software for your agency, it’s important to discuss the potential use of the software with your functional staff members and the end-user who is your customer, be it landlord or tenant.

To help align the information systems goals with business goals there are a few key questions that a general manager and firm can ask themselves. Gabriel Piccolli, the author of Information systems for Managers, Texts and Cases brings us the five key questions.

1-How much should we spend on IT?

A simple question that forces senior execs to discuss and decide what they are willing to spend on the role of information systems in the organisation, it helps if the agency know their budget before they go to the market looking for a property management solution.

2-Which business process should receive the €€€?

Which business processes are important to the firm that need some IT investment? I would assume activities such as website maintenance and management of customers would place highly here. Again it’s good to establish these things before making your investment.

3-How good do our IT services really need to be?

This question forces senior execs to make a conscious decision about the degree of service the firm needs and what they are willing to pay for. A smaller agency may only require a simple and low complex software system for certain business activities while the multi branch agencies may require a bigger and more comprehensive system.

4-What security and privacy risks will we accept?

Obviously this is something an organisation needs to discuss before investing in an information system and it is a hot topic at the moment with Google who I like to call ‘the ruler of the internet’ catching some negative PR for their new policies on the storage of customer data. For agencies looking to acquire software and align its use with business goals, you must ensure your data will be safe and retrievable when purchasing a system. Most software providers will state weather data can be obtained at the end of use.

5-Who do we blame if it all goes wrong?

Execs must clearly identify and assign responsibility for the information systems in the firm. This is helpful in assessing problems with the use of the software, such as the system not meeting expectations of the general managers. To put this into context, if you were to purchase a Rentview package for your agency you may assign work to your functional and general staff. In this case the general manger or agency owner may be responsible for setting up the different user accounts of each of his functional staff (the property managers), while a functional manager such as a senior letting agent may be given the responsibility of setting up accounts for the agency clients; both landlords and tenants.

That’s it for today, the next post relating to information systems will look at the first stages of the planning process. Please feel free to comment and discuss the post below.

by Rentview