Reports2Go

Enhancing Tenant Relations with Regular Inspections

Here's a real-world example of why maintaining safe, habitable rental units is so crucial from both an ethical and legal standpoint:

Over in the London borough of Haringey, some landlords running a big rental house with multiple units recently got hit with a huge £13,500 fine. Their mistake? They let major hazards like dampness and mould problems spread through four out of the eight flats without fixing them.

One of the most powerful benefits of offering a regular inspections? It helps build an immediate foundation of transparency, communication, and mutual trust.

Think about it - by proactively bringing in an impartial third party to document the property's condition, you're signalling to tenants a spirit of accountability and fairness on your part. There's zero room for ambiguity about expected property standards.

On the flip side, tenants appreciate having visibility into the process. They can feel confident you won't try to blindside them with made-up fees or false damage claims down the road.

With this open line of communication established early, you'll likely notice tenant relationships becoming far more positive. They'll feel respected and empowered as stakeholders, not just untrusted short-term residents. That's great for retention!

While having documented property inspections benefits you and tenants from a financial/legal perspective, there's an important operational perk too - better maintenance tracking.

One of the biggest headaches of rental oversight is playing catch-up on repair needs. Maybe the bathroom fan has been dying for months but nobody flagged it. Or the microwave suffers a total meltdown (pun intended) unexpectedly.

But when you have a rolling set of recent, high-quality reports with photos and notes about every property's contents and condition, catching developing issues becomes much easier.

With this data compiled in one place, you can stay ahead of the maintenance curve and fix problems promptly before they snowball into major headaches for everyone involved.

Think about all the time, materials and sheer effort required to properly document units yourself using pen-and-paper forms. You need multiple staffers coordinating visits, writing up descriptions, hauling around cameras or equipment, filing reports, etc. The costs add up quickly.

But by outsourcing this task to a specialised digital platform providing regular inspections, all that labour gets reduced down to just a single inspection. The software handles cataloguing details, uploading photos, and report generation - no extra work is required on your end!

On top of those time and labour savings, having clear documentation of property condition protects your bottom line from things like unwarranted security deposit claims, damage chargebacks, or repair delays.

You're just avoiding unnecessary costs across the board. For such a minimal investment in coordinating inventory services, that's an incredible ROI for any landlord!

Panos, 05 July 2024