Challenges of Managing Rental Properties

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Managing rental properties comes with several potential challenges. Majority of these challenges are as a result of tenant’s peculiarity while the other challenges result from inability of the management team to enforce the tenancy agreement. It is therefore imperative to ensure that the tenant understands these expectations detailed on the tenancy agreement and signs it from the get go. In many cases, tenants can behave as if they believe once they have paid the lease; they are under no obligation to obey the tenancy agreement.

Below are list of some challenges landlords or managing companies have with tenants when managing rental properties.

Ø  Rent payment: In some cases, tenants are reluctant to pay their rent on time despite receiving reminder notice(s) long before rent due date. Some issue checks that will bounce, while some will avoid payment by staying away from home during the day or refusing to answer the door when they know the management team is around. There are some others that will resort to paying the rent in bits until it is fully paid. These are some of the ways they frustrate the management team and landlord. The solution most time is to rent the house or apartment to a steady income earner with regular salaries and who has a good reputation to protect. It is also a good practice to include provision for late rent charges in the case when tenants do not pay as at when due.

Ø  Damaging of property due to rough usage: Tenants can sometimes be very rough in the usage of houses or apartments. This may include damages to taps, toilets, cabinets, wall/ floor tiles, kitchen counter top marble, windows, doors, keys and handles, electrical fixtures etc. Some even leave the house with holes in the walls. Periodic visit to the property for inspection will help mitigate this kind of issues. Be sure to give adequate advance notice and get the consent of tenants before inspection, this is normally specified in tenancy agreement.

Ø  Lack of cooperation in multi-tenanted buildings: Many tenants living in apartment buildings do not like to cooperate with the other tenants to keep the surrounding environment clean. They will refuse to engage in the cleaning or turn in their contribution toward the payments for a third party cleaning service. Some tenants will also not follow simple rules with regards to do’s and don’ts of the yard attached to the apartment building. Examples are where not to park vehicles, dump trash etc. A good solution is for the property managers of an apartment building to coordinate the collection of tenant’s contributions towards payments for compound or yard cleaning/management.

Ø  Eviction notice: Some tenants are very difficult to evict from a house. When some tenants are served quit notice because they cannot keep up with rent payment, causes too much damage to the property, too dirty or due to their disturbances to other tenants, etc. They will refuse to honor it thereby preventing you from taking possession of the property. The solution is to take them to court immediately the required eviction notice period elapses. Note that this may consumes time and money.

Ø  Utility bills (energy, water and waste). Not paying Utility bill is a common phenomenon with some tenants especially if the tenants have to pay jointly with others. They always frustrate the effort of others by claiming to be broke while other people end up paying on their behalf. This is very common with waste management. A good fix is to have the energy or water company disconnect the tenant until payments are made. Also the property managers can coordinate the collection of waste and securtiy fees.

Ø  Piling items in the balconies: Many tenants use their balconies for storing items they do not need. This littering makes the house looks dirty. To get them to decongest the balconies is always a big problem. Some tenants even litter the yard with broken down vehicles or faulty vehicle parts they might not need. Probable solutions include making sure anti-littering clauses is part of the tenancy agreement they sign and enforce it by periodic visits to the premises.

Ø  Number of occupants: Most tenants rent a house or apartment agreeing to have less than the number of occupants limit required by the landlord. However they quickly go against this rule and fill the house with lots of relatives or friends. Some others will even sublet part of the house to other families making the house and the compound/yard rowdy. This results in excessive use and damage of the house. To prevent this from happening this has to be specially discussed and signed off by the tenant as part of the tenancy agreement.

Ø  Getting drunk or use of illegal drugs in the house (in and out): This is one area management teams are seriously having problems. Some tenants result to smoking hard drugs within the precinct of a house. This repulsive attitude of getting drunk, smoking hard drugs and disturbances get other tenants in the apartment building angry. A quick fix most times is to immediately involve the law enforcement, but make sure it is clearly stated in the tenancy agreement that no smoking of illegal substances or use of hard drugs in or around the house is allowed.

Ø  Making loud noise: Playing loud music in apartment building, having one form of party or the other and late night disturbances are the ways some people get under the skin of other tenants. This eventually leads to quarrel and fight among tenants. This can be mitigated by making sure it is part of the tenancy agreement signed by every tenant.

Ø  Use of noisy electricity generators at odd hours: If an apartment building is located where energy is not very regular, some tenants will likely use generators as an alternate means of energy. Designated zone for generators should be well specified to tenants before they move in. Tenants needs to understand it has to be their collective agreement on when to switch on and off their generators to avoid unnecessary disturbance to others.

Ø  Pet disturbances: if the landlords allow pets in his house, then it has to be well communicated to the tenant not to allow his pet roam the yard and litter feces all around. Any pets not allowed by the landlord have to be clearly specified in the agreement.

Ø  Avoiding landlord or management team: Some tenants have the habit of avoiding the landlord or management team of the property. They will avoid their calls or text messages as well as pretend not to be at home when they visit. Common solutions include visiting the tenant at very early hours of the morning and use e-mails as a means of communication.

It is the duty of the landlord or managing firm to ensure they handle these cases by periodic visitations and enforcement of the tenancy agreement. If not properly managed this may result to other tenants moving out to avoid any altercation that may lead to fighting and possibly injuries. Landlords will suffer both rent voids resulting from vacancies and damages to their properties due to poor usage.

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