Would you live in the house next door to your IP/Tenants?

We have subdivided the back yard of our current PPOR, and are building a house on the subdivided land which we will move into when it is ready. We are considering keeping the initial property as an investment property, which means for a while at least we would be living next door to our tenants.

We would have the house managed by a property manager, but even if we did not tell the tenants we were the owners there is a good chance that the neighbours would tell them.

Does anyone have any opinions on why this would be a bad idea? this would be our first IP. I have noticed in a few threads people saying they don't let their tenants know where they live which is why I ask this question.

Thanks in advance :)
 
I've had property managers accidently reveal my identity to tenants (this house is owned by our director...) they began to call me personally. I needed to make it clear that I do not manage the property and to refer to the pm at all times.

I would be more worried about the tenants wasting your own time than knowing where you live.

In other ways, if you are friendly and polite towards them and make it clear that you have a pm who is the first point of contact, I don't see why it would be a big issue.

I would choose where you want to live first above what the tenants or anyone else think.
 
We own a dual occ where we lived in the front house for over 7 years. The rear home was rented out at all times with the aid of a Property Manager. We have never had any major dramas with this arrangement despite the properties being in a lower socio-ecconomic area.

You need to understand that your tenants WILL know that you are the owner. No two ways about that. On each change of tenants, the neighbours would tell them that we own the place.

You need to be able to let them live their lives & not be "in their face" for small breaches, or just because they annoy you. Treat them the same as any other neighbour.

Do not try to be their friends. They are not your friend. Keep the arrangement businesslike.

If/when they come knocking on the door for your assistance in some matter, you need to (nicely) remind them that they need to speak to the Property Manager.

If the property is vacant at any time & you get people knocking on your door because they want to rent the place, you need to be diplomatic and refer them to the Property Manager. One trick we used to use was to say that we have no say in who gets to rent the house, because we signed over our rights to the Property Manager & that any potential tenants need to see them & fill in the application. We also do not control how much the property rents for. This saves them complaining to you about most things and weeds out those who are just looking for some dumb smuck who wants to "save on PM fees". These are the ones who, usually, you would not want to rent to.
 
Years ago i rented a farm house and 30 mtrs away was the owners house. i paid the rent directly to them once a week and honestly just forgot they where there, they were a lovely old couple and sometimes when i would come home there would be some lettuce or what ever else they had excess supplys of growing in there massive veg patch that really besides the paying the rent was the only contact i had with the owners.
As long as you have a huge fence where you cant see into the yard and just treat them as neighbours i cant see why it wouldnt work out.
 
We own the property next to ours, but the PM was given explicit instructions not to let the tenants know we're the owners. He used the PM's PO box address for the LL's details on the contract and the tenants don't talk to the neighbours - so far so good.
 
Can be good can be bad.

Will you have the same access or common areas?

I have an Elevated house with a self contained 2BR unit underneath. Although access is through the front gate and drive way has shared parking, entrance to the unit is on the other side and secluded with its own private yard.

I only use the place a few times a year and general the arrangement has been good but on my last trip (about 3 weeks but only stayed about 6 nights) the tenants were a little funny and complained to the pm about me being there and the fact that I had 2 or 3 visitors. There contract is for upstairs and yard and has been in place for nearly 3 years. Why their change in attitude who knows but so far no problems apart from them saying they are looking to buy somewhere and may break their lease.
 
Thanks everyone for your responses.

yes there will be a big fence and totally separate accesses, different streets actually as it is a corner block so there shouldn't be any problems I don't think.
 
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