rentview – Page 3

July 20, 2012

Meeting with the Property Services Regulatory Authority

Myself (Andreas) and co founder Colin met with the Chief Executive Officer of the PSRA Tom Lynch yesterday. We wanted to discuss the new Property Services Regulation Act and how Rentview can assist agencies run in line with the new laws.

The two main areas of note for a letting and managing agent in the Property Services (Regulation) Act 2011 are Clients accounting and the letter of engagement between landlord and agent. Rentview will allow an agency automate this through the Rentview platform ensuring an agency is complying with the law and keeping within best industry practices.

The Authority is there to regulate the agencies and to ensure the services being offered by the industry is being delivered to the landlord. Without a signed letter of engagement in place between landlord and agent within the first 7 days of engagement of services an agency can not continue to offer a service to the landlord. This is something that the PSRA had in the code of practice which agents previously choose if they signed up to and followed or not. The code of practice will now become the law when an agency is licensed.

So whilst agencies across the country are awaiting for their license it should not be too long now before the Authority starts issuing them. Its a huge task for the Authority and where previously there was a number of Revenue offices that issued the licenses its now done from one. With the new licensing procedure the PSRA office will process nearly 6,000 license requests compared to approx 1800 last year.

Once all the applications have been processed and the agencies have received their licenses the authority will then regulate the industry. For an agency to operate and not comply to the act and all of its laws they will be shut down.

Having worked within the industry I know that this regulation will greatly improve the services being offered by agents to landlords. The Licensing should also remove unprofessional agents and if not now then some time in the very near future.

As always we would love to hear any questions you may have or have your opinions on this blog. Please feel free to Tweet, Share, Like and everything else that makes us social 😉

by Andreas Riha

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

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 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 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

June 7, 2012

Property management- Wear and Tear of a rented property

Property management – wear and tear of a rented property

No property will remain in pristine condition throughout its existence. The mere act of people living in a property means that wear and tear will occur. This is especially true for rented properties, as the volume of people moving in and out can be quite high. It is the main sticking point when it comes to inventories and is the source of many disputes, with tenants claiming normal wear and tear and the landlord holding deposits and claiming damages. For this reason, it is important that both parties are clear on what defines normal wear and tear.

property-management-wearandtear

More often than not, it is a grey area. A hole in a plaster wall, a broken window and wardrobe doors torn off their hinges are fairly obviously damages but what about cracked bathroom tiles or a worn place in the carpet? Are they wear and tear? The legal definition of ‘normal wear and tear occurs where deterioration of the subject matter takes place over a period of time due to ordinary and reasonable use of the premises’ would suggest they quite probably are, but it’s still not entirely clear-cut. Keeping records of when items were bought or installed can help reduce the ambiguity. For example, a good quality carpet laid down a year ago would be expected to show less wear and tear after a one year tenancy than one laid down five years ago.

property-management-carpet

The best ways to avoid wear and tear disputes are to ensure both parties agree to a definition and a detailed inventory is taken at the start of the tenancy. Photographs in particular can be a great aid in settling such disputes.

Why not read our blog on ‘Dispute over the condition of the Property’

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

Thanks for reading!

by Andreas Riha

Letting agency software

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 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