How Do Landlords & Tenants Get Along Happily Ever After

and, they lived happily ever after - stock phrase for ending oral narratives or fairytale handwritten with white chalk on blackboard, copy space above

It is a happy thing to have matched a tenant to the right property : it’s a win-win situation in that tenant is happy to have found a new home to create memorable moments in and the landlord gets his precious investment financed.

To sure that this marriage made in heaven has a happy ending, these are a few points to take note:

Quiet Enjoyment

My Home Is My Castle Concept text

This normally doesn’t concern seasoned landlords who have rented out many properties. The idea of this clause is to let the tenants have quiet enjoyment of the place without having the landlord suddenly showing up at their front door wanting to check if the apartment is still in good condition. If you the landlord call on the tenant, make sure its for a valid reason like doing repairs and not just to check on the tenants.

Air Condition Servicing

Sometimes in the fervour of house moving and settling down in the new home, the tenant may overlook his obligation to service the air conditioners in the apartment once every 3 months. This is because in most of the Tenancy Agreements, tenants are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the property and its contents in general. So example if the air con stops working after 6 months and if the Tenants can show aircon servicing reports, the repairs will be paid for by the Landlords if the cost exceeds $150.

Its also true to say that if at the end of the tenancy the air conditioners do not function well due to lack of servicing and maintenance on the part of the tenants, then the tenants will need to bear the cost of repairs needed to the air conditioners. So dear tenants, please take note to show that you’ve serviced the air conditioners throughout the Tenancy if you don’t want to be hit by a hefty air con repair bill at the end of the Tenancy.

Ensure that all Repairs Are Done

I had a tenant whose fridge stopped working in the first 30 days of the Tenancy Agreement. The landlord delayed reacting and thus this caused great inconvenience to the tenant as all his food turned bad and the family’s meals were disrupted. The landlord only reacted a week later and this left the tenants with a bad aftertaste. Needless to say the relationship between Landlord and tenant turned, well, frosty. When the landlord finally repaired the fridge, it turned that the landlord was trying to save on original parts and the fridge acted up again. In the end the landlord purchased a new fridge which is what he should have done from the start.

Being penny wise and pound foolish really does not pay as the cordial relations between landlord and tenant had cooled after this episode. So dear landlords, just do the repairs needed with no delay to show the tenant that you are a responsible landlord and tenants will repay this by continuing to live there as long as possible. This will again translate into money in the pocket for the landlord because they will be fewer vacancy periods throughout the ownership of the property.

Option To Renew

If landlords are not sure if they would like to renew the Tenancy for another year, its best to sign a fixed 1 year Tenancy and renegotiate terms nearing the end of the Tenancy. If the landlords includes an Option to Renew clause, this may lead to complications when the landlord decides not to renew the Tenancy for the additional year.

Mutual Respect

Teamwork and cooperation with a group of young people all raising their hands together and forming an overlapping pyramid, closeup view of their arms and hands

At the end of the day, I guess there’s no better way to start the Landlord-Tenant relationship on the right footing other than to have mutual respect for each other. The tenant takes over the apartment with the intention of treating it and taking care of it like he would his own home. The landlord supports the tenant by considering and agreeing to any reasonable requests that the tenant may have along the tenancy. It may sound funny but I have seen landlords who treat their tenants like poor cousins asking for a free stay at their properties. The landlords should actually be treating their tenants as business partners in their property investment journey because they are the ones who are taking care of the landlords’ mortgages. This will make sure that the  apartment will always be rented out to happy respectable tenants!

Communication is also the key here and as business partners, they should be very responsive to each other to make sure that problems are fixed and issues ironed out. I know of a landlord who sends hampers annually to her tenants to express her appreciation and needless to say, her tenants stay with her for a long time!

Ready to find out what options you have when it comes to property? CalLille Low from Century 21 at 9022-8919


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