Landlord reference

[Michael Croft]

I'm sure this is in the SS archive somewhere, but here's one for those managing their own properties.

When your departing tenant asks for a reference, ask for one in return. Have you noticed that there is a percentage of potentially good tenants that will only deal with "professional" property managers? Perhaps they had been short changed on the bond, or had a 'difficult' LL in the past etc.

When I started out (over a quarter of a century ago ) I had no answers for these people, but after a year I was armed with references form my ex tenants , then they were mine if I wanted them. It was also an ego massage to have tenants saying how wonderful a LL I was, and that they enjoyed staying in my properties etc.

It may seem irrelevant now when rental markets are tight, but they won't always be like this - trust me. At some stage in the future you will need to 'sell' your rental to the tenant, and the references help.

MC

 

[JIT]

Never heard that one before! - but, sounds like a great idea and will probably use it from now on, however I might be a 'difficult LL' so may not actually get one!

Thanks,

GSJ

 

[geoffw]

An excellent idea Michael- I might try that.

I've just had some excellent tenants leave after three years, and I gave them good references. I've now relinquished my self management of the property, but that reference may be good.

Michael, what about a reference from a PM? Would it be worth while having that?

 

[Andrew_A]

neat

Nice idea, makes a lot of sense.

I like it when you take a normal situation like that and step outside the convention to discover something of value.

'Mankind is born in freedom, but soon becomes a slave, in cages of convention from the cradle to the grave' - From the War of the worlds musical.

Just listening to an interview where the idea of an 'anti resume' was mentioned. The idea being all the things you don't know has a lot of value.

I have made a note to sit down with my journal and see if I can't come up with some more such ideas regarding IP's.

Interesting how convention guides you. In (all?) Europe it's normal that appartments come fully furnished and all outgoings are paid for by tenants. We are seeing the first steps in what seems to me to be a better model of user pays (tenants to pay for water in QLD possibly), but the noise being created is interesting to observe, all because we are attached to what we know rather than think about what would be best.

Rambling.. See ya!

 

[Xenia]

I know that the really bad tenants tend to target private landlords because they do not have the same screening tools that agents do, but didn't know that good tenants specifically target agents. Sounds logical though!

 

[WinstonWolfe]

suppose a string of good LL references would come in handy if ever up before a RTA tribunal.

 

[wylie]

As a self-managing IP owner I know that sometimes bad tenants look for us because of our lack of screening tools, but I have also been told by more than a handful of tenants that they choose owner-managers because they are sick of the rigmarole they have to go through with agents.

This has been said to us numerous times, by all sorts of prospective tenants, young and not so young, and I feel exactly the same. As a grown woman, having to have someone "screen" me would make me very uncomfortable. I know it is necessary, but if for some reason we had to rent, I would firstly try private landlords before I had to lay out my life history, income, etc etc to a 19 year old stranger who has no personal interest in how we "scrub up" in her eyes.

When we manage privately, we get to meet the prospective tenants and whilst we don't have a "buddy" relationship, they can ring us directly (rarely happens) if something goes wrong and we are in control. We very much trust our gut instincts and if we don't meet them, how can we get a "feel" for them. Out gut instinct has rarely let us down.

If I owned an IP in another state, of course I would go through an agent but our IPs are in our own suburb.

In over 25 years of self-managing we have only had two problem tenants, one of which was "found" for us in exchange for one week's rent by a local property manager. This tenant had been "on the game" (and while living in our house went back onto the game and on drugs). She had been in jail because she stabbed someone "to see what it felt like".

I don't really think that PM did her due diligence. I shudder when on this forum some of the things that agents do (and do NOT do).

I like the idea of getting a reference from the tenant, because we do a good job.

Wylie

 

[Michael Croft]

Hi Geoff,

Can't see why it wouldn't help. If a PM would say wonderful things about you on letterhead, as an obliging and diligent LL , why not?

WW, hadn't thought of it as a character reference for a tenancy tribunal, should help redress the imbalance a bit.

Xenia, if you can't "smell" a really bad tenant in 'casual conversation' aka the interview, use a PM. Some tenants have bad experiences with private rentals, mainly lack of maintenance requests being fulfilled, and the intrusive LL - the one checking up on the place one a week, and at inconvenient times, or arriving unannounced.

MC