Does your PM pay all rates, insce etc?

[blossomoz]

I am wondering how everyone manages their properties? I am asking this as I have just dumped a PM because we have had to pay an $85 penalty due to our rates not being paid by the due date. There was no shortage of money just slackness on their behalf.

Now I find that the PM who has our other properties has combined 2 properties on the one monthly statement. This means I now have to work out what % belongs to which property as they are owned in different names.

I am trying to get the PM's to manage the property & am now wondering whether I should pass the insurance over to them, which was what I was going to do.

I feel that we pay for a property to be managed so why should we have to do it ourselves.
I realise that it is for each of us to check the rental statements etc.
Thanks everyone
blossomoz

 

[Kiwi Investor]

I think that is BS, if they were late making a payment on your behalf they should refund the $85 or reduce comissions for a month or two as compensation.
I would dump them to. Personally I pay the Insurances, and Rates myself using internet banking, my IP is in NZ.
My PM would charge $5 NZ per payment for this.

KI

 

[Jacque]

I would suggest that you pay your own insurance, as it's dangerous to rely on someone else doing it and being late. Imagine them paying late and having a claim in the uninsured period. It's happened!
Sounds like they're slack with their procedures- let us know how you go gettings someone more efficient. Good luck!

 

[G&G]

We much prefer to pay our own insurace, rates etc. just to have the piece of mind that it is paid on time.

Cheers
Glenda

 

[Patosan]

I have to agree with the others that insurance is far too important to rely on the PM, especially if you have had an experience like yours.

There's another reason to pay yourself though ... use your credit card and get points for these payments. It's quick and simple. I shudder when I think of all the rates, etc I paid via the rental money thus throwing away a holiday chance. Just remember to pay the credit acc from your rental business acc before you're charged interest ... once in the system it's easy.

Good luck.

 

[The Y-man]

We pay our own. As per reasons above, especially VISA points...... (where credit cards are accepted! )

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[Cheeks]

Hi

I get my PM's to pay and do everything.

I'm generally to busy to deal with it so I like my PM's to do everything for me.

In my experience (I'm not saying this is all PM's) you need to find the best PM you can and then "help" them become better until you are happy with them.

I have recently (within the past 2 weeks and this was the final straw) sacked a PM for not paying my rates, instead she just posted them to me after holding on to them for 3 weeks! These used to be good PM's but too many changes of staff have really lowered the standard.

I also find it helpful if the PM pays them when you are paying in installments, I would forget to pay it and then only have myself to blame, if (I hope this doesn't happen to me) the PM forgets I can blame them

I will soon be starting a review process with my PM's (should have done this already). I'll either do it yearly or every 6 months. I'll email them and let them know how I think they are performing and provide them with some value input. I think this is important as I treat my PM's as my employee's and therefore expect them to perform to a standard and have reviews of their performance.

If you're not happy with the service let them know asap, if they say they can't help you or change something, take your money somewhere else.

 

[Medine]

Hi,

I've found that my PMs haven't missed a beat with payments. So I called one to find out why! She said they have a software package to assist them, and when a bill comes in for me they enter the due date in to the software package and it gets paid. Simple. Maybe not all PMs use software? I think I'll put this on my list of questions for new PMs !

Despite my good experience so far - I still pay my own insurance. I agree that it's just too important!

Cheers, Medine

 

[the.j]

Ditto Y-Man!

Everything I do is funelled through my CC. I also prefer to receive the rent in total and disburse expenses myself.

Cheers
J

 

[JoannaK]

When I was running The Rental Specialists I preferred to pay all accounts for my landlords, including insurance. Alot of landlords didn't even have insurance until I insisted they get it! I also paid strata, water rates, council rates and land tax. It helps the property manager keep tabs on the property, particularly concerning strata where they send out minutes of meetings etc with the levy notice.

Good property management is about just that - management. A good property manager will know when to expect bills to come in, and ensure that there are funds to pay them when due. A good property manager will have the correct systems in place so that bills are paid several times through the month so no payments are made late.

 

[Ralph]

I pay insurance, get my PM to do rates and water. So far so good, though recently they paid the first installment ONE MONTH EARLIER than it was due

Other than that, pretty good. Agree with the 'training' aspect. We just had 9k worth of painting done by a contractor that the PM was using for the first time. After I asked how it went and they informed me that the tenant pointed out an area that was missed, I had to prompt them to go do an inspection to check if everything was done properly........... for that kind of money I'd like a PM to automatically take my best interests in hand

 

[lizzie]

my agent has paid all the bills on time for the last four years and never been charged extra. i guess i've just got a good one. think i'll keep her on

lizzie

 

[blossomoz]

Thanks everyone I really appreciate the input. I am particularly interested in the software, it will give us more ammunition.

The 'other half' contacted the agents again today & was told by the boss that the matter had been handed to the senior property manager. The boss seemed surprised that we hadn't been contacted.
I contacted the senior property manager by email, before I dumped them, but he didn't bother to reply the next day.

We are good landlord & don't hassle over everything so when I ring or email I expect to be answered quickly. Anyway it's history, the PM has been fired but we are going to press for our money.

We have had some shocking PM's over the years. Unfortunately it is an awful job & they get burnt out in about 18 months. Then, comes the replacement & you never know how good the new person is going to be. It seems to me a bit like playing roulette

This is one of the offputting things about owning property.
Sorry I'm having an 'off property' day today.

Thanks again
blossomoz

 

[kissfan]

Hi all.

A couple of my I/P expenses are paid by the P/M's, and some other I/P's I pay the bills.

I make sure I pay the insurance bills on all of my I/p's as I believe in trying to get a better deal from the insurance companies. I believe the P/M would just pay the bill and forget about it instead of comparing companies and playing one against the other.

Probably depends on how much time you have at your disposal too.

Regards
Marty

 

[wish-ga]

I agree with Jacque, I wouldn't want to have period that wasn't covered by insurance...with rates maybe you can set up periodic payment (?), that way you know it is done but you don't have to babysit (might be best of both worlds).

 

[redwing]

$

We pay our own rates, insurance etc by CC, some stuff we pre-pay in June to bring into this FY as its due in July anway...

We get the points on the CC for this and the discount..

with Insurance we get bulk discount for several IP's.

we have severl PM's, which is great for negotiations..

REDWING

 

[crest133]

Hi Blossomoz
IMHO provided the managing agency agreement mentioned that the PM paid rates on your behalf when due, then the PM is negligent and should pay the penalty as well as patching up any effect on your reputation with Council or any credit rating database. The REA is fully responsible for any and all of the PM's actions during the period of employment, and any subsequent negative impact occurring thereafter which is directly attributable to the PM's actions during that period of employment. They all know how very accountable they are, and usually don't want you to know, especially if they have goofed at your expense.
good luck.
cheers
crest133

 

[Ebbie]

I get my PM's to pay and do everything.
QUOTE]

I like to pay everything myself for the same reasons other people have said but also for accounting purposes.

I like to enter all my expenses into MYOB as they occur so at the end of the financial year I can print out a list of total expenses for my tax return. When I get a monthly statement from a property manager I only enter the net rental income so that my cheque account matches the actual funds in the bank. This means I am unable to enter any expenses already paid by the PM such as council rates, water rates etc unless I pay them out of my own cheque account after receiving the monthly rental income from the PM (this still leaves the PM's commission not recorded anywhere in MYOB).

I apologize for bringing up the exciting subject of accounting but can any MYOB users tell me if there's a better way of recording expenses paid by the PM?

 

[duncan_m]

When I get a monthly statement from a property manager I only enter the net rental income so that my cheque account matches the actual funds in the bank.

Woudn't this mean you're understating your income? All monies recieved by your PM on your behalf from your Tenants need to be declared as "rental income" not just the money you eventually recieved from your PM. I guess if you're not recording PM fees then the net effect is the same.. but its not ideal.

 

[skater]

I get my PM's to pay and do everything.
QUOTE]

I like to pay everything myself for the same reasons other people have said but also for accounting purposes.

I like to enter all my expenses into MYOB as they occur so at the end of the financial year I can print out a list of total expenses for my tax return. When I get a monthly statement from a property manager I only enter the net rental income so that my cheque account matches the actual funds in the bank. This means I am unable to enter any expenses already paid by the PM such as council rates, water rates etc unless I pay them out of my own cheque account after receiving the monthly rental income from the PM (this still leaves the PM's commission not recorded anywhere in MYOB).

I apologize for bringing up the exciting subject of accounting but can any MYOB users tell me if there's a better way of recording expenses paid by the PM?

Yep! I use MYOB.

What I do is enter the amount you receive in the amount column but when you get to the part where you enter the account it will automatically put the same $ amount that you have already entered. Just click on the amount & you can change it to the total amount received. On the next lines you put other expenses and enter them in as negative figures. Easy.