Keep your tenant contact details up to date

Just thought I'd pass on a tip following a recent issue I had with tenants for the self-managers amongst you.

Where you have long term tenants it's quite easy for your contact details to get out of date. I'm going through some revaluations at the moment and the valuer arrived at the property and we couldn't get in as the locks had been changed. Further we couldn't raise the tenant on any of the phone numbers we had. Tenant has left their previous employment and none of the other emergency contact numbers or referee's numbers were still connected.

Don't worry - it all had a happy ending. Tenant had lost his mobile phone, changed jobs and been away for a few weeks working out west... and the rent was being paid like clockwork

Yes the locks had been changed but tenant had been meaning to send me the keys but hadn't gotten around to it yet... oh well. All's well that ends well.

But the lesson is that I'm going through the tenant roll atm and sending out forms for people to update their details.

Lesson learnt.

Cheers
N.

 

Glad to hear it had a happy ending

I always ask for two emergency no's (eg parent and sibling) as you just never know......

 

Hi guys, I also want to self manage and just wondered what sort of detail you include in your tenant application forms. Also do you just use the standard lease agreements that are available at the newsagency?

 

Hi Tizzy

When I self-managed I just used the standard lease packs from the PO, however I also collected two emergency numbers and validated the place of employment, other references and previous landlord references by doing some ringing to double check. Better to be safe than sorry when it comes to tenant selection, especially when self-managing. A tip that I've read, which I consider smart if you're able to do so, is to offer to drop in or pick up the application form from the tenant's current residence, to get a clearer view of what type of house they keep. Good luck with it all.

 

Thats good advice Jacque, thanks. As our lets will be local, we thought we'd include monthly lawn maintenance as part of lease because it gives a good excuse for my partner to cast an eye over the place. There will only be lawns on the verges, so it isn't much to do and we don't think most tenants would look after those areas properly anyway.

 

Great idea! Just ensure you factor it into the rental price and advertise it as being part of the package. Could be a drawcard for those tenants without lawn equipment