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Communication is lacking in the property management industry, with confusion and defensiveness arising from poor relationships with tenants and landlords, according to a property management specialist.
Advantage Property Management property management specialist Laura Barich, a Real Estate Business Awards winner for Property Manager of the Year (regional), said she primarily focuses on quality service and communication, “because that is where we find it lacking in the industry”.
“The property managers are often doing their job but not communicating with the landlords or the tenants, so no one really knows what is going on,” she told Residential Property Manager.
“We have found that communication is the key.”
Ms Barich also believes fostering a good relationship with tenants can prevent a tenant potentially causing damage to the property.
“I believe if you haven’t got that relationship with your tenant, the tenant will get really defensive if you come back and say ‘We have conducted your inspection and these things are wrong and this and this is wrong’,” she said.
“We do regular routine inspections that are not invasive [and] we give them praise for the things they are doing right, so they don’t feel like we are coming in and attacking them.”
According to Ms Barich, people’s interpretation of ‘cleaning’ can be vary wildly.
“In some exits we have actually gone in and we’ve assisted [tenants] with cleaning because some of the younger kids haven’t been brought up to know about proper cleaning; they use a bit of water and cloth and sort of smear the grease on the benches,” she said.
“It gives us a good relationship because they can see we are trying to get their bond back and they don’t feel so invaded.”
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