Tenant trouble 101: How veteran property managers navigate the trickiest rentals

According to Gordon, being a property manager is no easy task, with issues often arising over bond processes, maintenance repairs, and general tenant queries.

Ultimately, she said that property managers need to have passion for the role to be able to get through the more difficult times, seek out a mentor, and develop a general sense of understanding.

Gordon said that tenants sometimes had difficulty understanding processes, particularly when it came to timeframes and procedures that needed to be followed.

“We are not trying to make life difficult for them, but there are legislations and rules that we have to abide by, and it's probably just their lack of understanding what those rules are that makes the situation difficult,” she said.

“Owners' affordability, long-term plans, legislation obviously play a part too, so there's just lots of variables in every situation.”

Additionally, Gordon said one challenge that often arose was around bond processes, as many tenants have been insisting that the final condition of the property was better than in reality.

“We don't wear a white glove when we carry out an exit inspection; we only ever refer back to the entry condition report, but everyone has a different understanding of what that condition is.”

Gordon said that it was particularly challenging when tenants had been living in the property for a long time and were relying on their memory to recollect the original condition.

“That’s why we rely on the entry condition report. But if they think that something is clean in their eyes, it may not necessarily be clean in our eyes.”

While the process of returning the bond can present different complexities, Gordon said maintenance was another area where issues often arose.

She noted that she sometimes received requests from tenants to make small fixes or adjustments that they could have probably attended to themselves.

“Not that we expect them to and not that legislation says that they can or that they have to, but as a tenant myself, it is something that I would just attend to.”

She added that the fixes could include tasks such as replacing light bulbs, rusted oven trays, or plugs that didn’t work anymore.

“I'm not even talking that significant, but it could just be small things, but screwing fence panels back in if you've got loose fence tailings or something.”

Gordon also said that over the years, she has experienced a lot of challenges, including property destruction and unruly tenants, having once had a renter who completely damaged a property maliciously.

“I've seen where lots of tenants have abandoned properties before. I've seen, thankfully, it wasn't a drug lab, but I have seen where dealers have lived before.”

“Unfortunately, I have seen some pretty rough things. I've had rough tenants that I've had to deal with in the past who were violent. It's all bad, but it's nothing that has stopped me from wanting to do my job.”

Due to the pressures that property managers face on a daily basis, Gordon recommended newcomers to seek guidance from those more experienced in the industry.

“My advice would be to find yourself a mentor who is in the industry as well, so that you can just walk hand in hand, talk about problems."

“Because of the likeliness of them having already dealt with it or needing to deal with it in the future, you'll be able to bounce off each other."

She said a property management career was something people had to genuinely enjoy to be able to deal with the bad days, given that it had a turnover time of only eight months.

“It’s not a job that you can do Monday to Friday and go home and wipe your hands of it.”

According to Gordon, the ability to have empathy and understanding plays an important role in dealing with challenging tenant circumstances.

“I think it's really important that you have to be able to relate to people when you're doing this job.”

“I'm a tenant myself, I've been a landlord myself, I'm also a property manager, so I feel like I've got some sort of empathy level with everyone."

She said that keeping a good relationship with tenants and trying to prevent issues meant that both owners and landlords could keep their source of income.

“Maintaining that solid relationship with the tenant, empathising with them, supporting them and showing them that we care about them just as much as we care about the landlord who's paying us at the end of the day, that's a pretty tough act.”

However, she said property managers should accept that there are sometimes factors that are outside their control, despite their best efforts to understand and sympathise with tenants.

“It's [about] balancing that empathy but also educating them at the same time,” she concluded.

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