Effectively managing tenant inquiries is a crucial aspect of successful property management. Remember that you’re running a business; your property is your product, your tenant is the customer. The happier the customer, the better the experience and the more successful your investment. In this blog post, we’ll provide landlords with a comprehensive guide on handling tenant inquiries.
Prompt and Professional Responses:
It is inevitable that tenants will call you for tedious tasks that you may think they should be able to handle on their own. The reality is that they may not know what to do. And, understandably, in many cases, it’s not their responsibility.
Whenever a tenant has a concern, we always suggest having a formal process for relaying those concerns to you, whether through an online form or a basic email. It’s good to include details and photos or videos of the problem. We’ve had great success resolving issues by requiring videos and photos, saving our clients hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars.
By truly understanding the problem, you will better know whose responsibility it is to repair and what exactly the problem is. Nowadays, calling in any professional trade, be it an electrician, plumber, or even a handyman, will cost you anywhere from $100 to $300 for the initial visit. And we’ve found that in many cases, no third-party assistance is required. A simple FaceTime call or YouTube video is often sufficient to walk a tenant through resolving the problem.
Either way, it’s essential to respond promptly. Just as you’d hoped for, when submitting a request for assistance from a company whose services you subscribe to.
Remember that these discussions are based on our knowledge of the Residential Tenancy Act in Ontario, Canada when writing this blog. Tenants and Landlords would be well advised to familiarize themselves with the Act and hire legal counsel. If you’re a tenant looking for a property or a Landlord requiring property management services, contact us today.
