Why do relationships fall apart at the vacate?

One area where relationships fall apart time and time again is at the end of the tenancy. Across all of the agencies we work with, this is one area of property management that whilst a company might have a great internal system, the system fails when it’s not communicated to the tenant or landlord thoroughly.

As a result, much time is spend to-ing and fro-ing between the landlord and tenant arranging the vacate inspection, finalising payments, reporting on the inspection and finalising the bond.  A lot of client frustration and misunderstanding, and hence conflict comes from a lack of communication of the process. Often we know that things are under control, or what the next steps are but we are not communicating this to our tenants and landlords.

Clients are more likely to get frustrated with us when they feel like they don’t know what is going on or when delivery expectations haven’t been set. We know from our end that things are being taken care of and a system is being followed.  However, from the outside looking in, the clients don’t know what we do every day that makes up the process and may feel that areas that have not been communicated to them are areas that are not in control.

To lift your success and avoid stress in the vacate process:

• Automate – automate how your vacate process is communicated. Instead of just sending a letter confirmation, give the tenant a step by step guide of how the vacate process will run.
• Systemise – firm up your internal procedures for the vacate, when was the last time they had a review and you looked at how you can streamline the process?
• Over-communicate – Quick messages to the landlord and the tenant to tell them where things are up to, even if you know they are under control, will stop them chasing you for an update on things, saving you time and stress.

We’ll have many more tips on vacating and communication during our next educational webinar on Creating the Ideal Vacate – click here to register. 

If you are Real+ member, click here to visit Real TV where you can watch the webinar, 'Creating the Ideal Vacate'