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One PM relates a story of what can happen when landlords and tenants get too close, and how you can stop it happening to you too.
Landlords might think a friendship with their tenants will encourage longer leases and easier rental negotiations.
But as Lisa Indge, managing director and founder of property management firm Let’s Rent, found out, landlord tenant relationships are best kept professional.
“It doesn’t even have to be a friendship,” Ms Indge said on The Smart Property Investment Show podcast.
“I have a client who lives in the same building as her tenants and we had a scenario a couple of years ago where the tenant cornered her and negotiated a rent reduction,” she said, adding, “It’s taken me two years to get the rent back up to the level that it was at prior to this negotiation.”
“So she never talks to her tenants anymore apart from saying hello in the corridor, but it’s key in ensuring that you can manage it as a business.
“It’s about perception and the more that you create that professional barrier, the easier it is for you to negotiate rent increases.”
Clear communication between PMs and clients will remove the need for landlords and tenants to communicate, which will help maintain the professionalism.
Making both landlords and their tenants aware of why they should maintain a professional relationship is also important, more so if they are living near each other and can communicate easily.
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