Expectations … and the prevention of problems
Hello, let me try that again … HELLO!!! I’m back!!! It has been 10 months since I wrote last. I apologise. No excuses, maybe a few reasons, you know … incredibly busy, burnt out, only wanted to rant about negative things, my genius deserted me. (Check out this link for explanation on ‘genius’ … go on, do it. It is a talk on Ted Talks by Elizabeth Gilbert … Fascinating and fun) …
Anywho, I let it slide for a while. But I now have something I would like to share. One of my greatest joys here at work is listening to Fleur, Gina and Claire doing their ‘thing’ on the phone. I love how they are so transparent and go about setting expectations. Fleur was just accepting a new tenant for a property that has a lovely front lawn and a nice concrete driveway, but very little room for error on the turnaround … So Fleur talks about the lawn and the damage that can be done by cars on it (especially in winter). She explains to the tenant that this would be considered damage and they would need to remedy it (Fleur goes on to explain how) so it would be best to not allow guests to park on the lawn etc. This tenant has no illusions whatsoever about where cars can be parked at that house. Now whenever an inspection is done it is a simple matter of monitoring the situation. Brilliant.
Expectations prevent so many problems. Telling owners and tenants alike the complete picture in as concise a way as possible makes business clean and clear for all concerned. Unfortunately, sometimes, despite being fully informed, some people still choose poorly.
Claire was very clear with an owner who has procrastinated over some serious maintenance. She was very clear on what was needed and the cost involved. She was very clear on how it impacted on the tenant and what actions the tenant could take if the maintenance was not done in a timely manner. (This normally produces a fast resolution.) Nothin’, Nadda, zip and zilch! – So now, as the tenant indicates to us that she is indeed taking action to ensure the work is done, we have no issue or concerns in passing this information on to the owner. We take no joy in it either, but we know we have not dropped the ball. We (Claire) have fulfilled our duty of care beautifully.
And despite the fact that I want to say long and loud: “You pay us for a reason, LISTEN when we advise you …” I kind of think the message gets through anyway. Just sometimes it gets through the hard way.
Transparency. Expectations. Love’em.
October 08 2012 09:03 am | landlords and Management and Tenants and Uncategorized
Joanne Chen on 31 Oct 2012 at 12:56 pm #
I agree with setting out expectations for tenants and landlords. It maintains the property in favor of the landlord and improves the condition for the tenants. Also prevents future lawsuit for both parties.