A simple trick to get your relationship with your landlords working.

Rented properties in your block can be a headache. The owner isn’t on site. You don’t have a relationship with the tenant. What happens when things go wrong? When washing is hung on the balconies against the terms of the lease? Or the family in 5B decide to house sit a dog?

Inevitably it falls to a director of the management company to ‘handle’ the situation. Nobody likes having to argue with a neighbour especially when the rules are unclear. If a tenant is insistent nobody told them they couldn’t have a dog, it’s pretty tricky to tell them the dog has to go.

In an ideal world, these problems would never arise. And in truth, a few simple procedures mean they never will.

Did you know that a landlord needs to gain ‘permission to lease’ from the Management Company in order to rent his property out? It’s a simple document but importantly, when you provide your permission you can attach conditions. For example, you can make it a condition of your permission that every tenant receives a copy of the lease as part of their contract. This is a simple thing that many landlords can easily do – they just don’t think to. Reminding them that their tenants have a responsibility to their neighbours and that you hold them accountable gets everybody off on the right footing.

Next time a tenant leaves bicycles in the communal area or puts their rubbish in the wrong bin, you can ask them to abide by the lease. No emotional exchange. No argument.