How often do you go to Tribunal?

A client of mine commented recently that they had been to a seminar where another property management company was presenting, and they said they never had been to Tenancy Tribunal, and were promoting this as their point of difference. So, my client asked me, "How often do you go to Tribunal?".
Frankly, we go more often than we would like.
Accurately, even once would be more often than we would like.
Also accurately, we do very well at Tenancy Tribunal and have a very good success rate when there are issues that need to be resolved but couldn't be resolved otherwise.
Property managers who don't take tenants to Tribunal are perhaps not looking after their client, the landlords, best interests. I have seen for myself many instances where landlords are dissatisfied with the care shown by tenants, and by proxie, their property managers. Stains on carpets are left as they are, chalked up to 'wear and tear' rather than asking the carpets to be cleaned or paying for the cost of patching these to be paid. This is only one example of many where damage is in excess of 'fair wear and tear' and is the tenants responsibility to put right, but the property manager ducks the confrontation and lets them get away with it. Over time, these things add up, and the property rents for less and less, and attracts lower quality tenants, which further damage the property. Alternatively, the landlord needs to pay for these repairs, which erodes the income they are supposed to be making from the property. One way or another, a property manager who does not hold tenants responsible for their own actions costs the landlord.
The property managers who boast that they do not go to Tribunal will state this is because they are 'just that good' they never have any issues. Ha ha ha ha ha! Yeah right. That would only be the case if they were dealing with machines, not people. People are infinately variable and are motivated by a huge variety of factors. People have changing circumstances, which can sometimes mean they don't live up to their own standards, and may not leave a tenancy as they intended to. Another reason a property manager could boast such is they have so few properties they don't get much experience at all. Or they try to stay out of Tribunal as they know their own actions would not withstand scrutiny. Or, they failed to collect sufficent evidence to prove their case.
We're not afraid of such things. We know our processes and behaviours are robust. We know we have the evidence we need to prove our case. If tenants don't fulfil their obligations, we are not afraid to do what we need to in order to protect our clients.
We do go to Tribunal. It is more often than we would like. But it is not more often than our clients like.

How to check references

We think we are pretty good at reference checking prospective tenants. I know we are, because we guarantee it. If we were no good, it would cost us too much to do such a thing. So, what do you need to know about reference checking?

1. Do it. The quick look up and down and judging a person by their handshake just doesn't cut it. Do call their referees and ask about them. Be suspicious if they don't give you any details, or have no one they can offer, or phone numbers are all wrong. They won't have been born yesterday, so don't act like you were. Everyone has a history, insist on delving into it.

2. Qualify the referees. How much weight should you attribute to different referees? They are not created equally. I'd attach more importance to what their landlord and employer have to say about them than their dear old Aunt.

3. Know what information you can get on-line about someone, and if there is any restrictions on using that information. For instance, know how to look up their Tenancy Tribunal history. Know how to do a credit check (and make sure you have consent to do so, or you may never be allowed to do another one again). Is Googling them useful?

4. Have some good questions to ask referees, and know how to verify information. Perhaps you ask the same question in different ways. Or keep the questions open-ended.

5. Do ask questions of the referees to verify they are really who they say they are 'so, how long have you owned the property? Have you seen much increase in value for you during this time? Why did you decide to buy it? - all these can be asked of 'landlords' to check they really own the property. Pretenders will soon fall flat on their face).

6. Watch for inconsistencies. Don't try to explain away anything that is contradictory. Find out the real story by asking them about it. E.g. 'You said on your application you don't smoke, but one of your referees said you do - can you explain please?'.

7. Listen to your gut, as well as your ears. Do you sense hesitancy? Holding back? Outright lying? Warning Will Robinson! Either ask them about it, or choose someone else.

Reference checking too subtle an art for you? To confrontational for you? If so, get someone else to do it, like the team at Rental Results Property Management. We pride ourselves on our tenant selection.

It’s not just what you know, it’s who you know.

Very few landlords contact previous landlords of a prospective tenant to get references. While I think that is a more than a bit foolhardy, I know some landlords will just say nice things to get them out of their property, especially if it is not true. I was reminded of this recently while doing one of our background checks on a prospective tenant. The landlord was someone I knew, so for his protection, let’s call him ‘M’. The call went something like this:

“Hi M, how you doing? It’s Jackie here, I’m ringing because (tenant) has applied to rent a property from me. He’s a tenant of yours right now?”

“Oh hey Jackie, how’s it going? I thought (tenant) was looking around. He’s asked me for another place in my properties, but I’ve refused. He’s really grotty, our housekeeping team refuses to go into that apartment. He’s late with his rent and needs to be reminded, and he’s never set up an AP, although we’ve asked him to. I wouldn’t recommend him at all.” M spurted.

“Really, that’s a pity. Thanks for being so honest with me” I say.

“No worries. If you were anyone else, I’d give you the ‘yeah, their fine’ spiel, but because I know you… I wouldn’t do that to you”.

So, it pays to be well connected, you’ll get more honesty from other landlords. I’d like to say this was the first time I ever encountered such a thing, but it happens all the time. If you are a landlord, the best protection against bad tenants is to be well connected and do background checks.

To develop connections with other landlords, join a property investors association like Wellington Property Investors' Association http://www.wnpia.co.nz. If you don't know what background checks to do, research it on http://www.dbh.govt.nz or get property management from a company like Rental Results http://www.rentalresults.co.nz - our tenant selection is so good, we guarantee it.