Often on my travels to letting agencies and landlord meetings, I experience the second-hand surprise (sometimes shock) that a tenant has gone bad in some way, shape or form.

Various exclamations are offered:

“I can’t believe a tenant would do that?!”

“They seemed so nice when we referenced them…!”

“He ‘suddenly’ stopped paying his rent.”

“She’s been on the phone again, ranting on about (fill in the blank…)”

Has this ever happened to you? Surprised at the unreasonable actions of a tenant? Shocked at a repair that has taken months to get this bad? Staggered that your tenant ‘suddenly’ stops paying the rent?

If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of the above with a big sigh and an exclamation mark (!), it’s likely you could have avoided the issue altogether, or at least avoided the surprise.

Trying to avoid being master of the obvious, tenants are people. Some are great, some are average and some are downright ‘orrible. That’s the way of the world. Whether good, bad or ugly, people often act in random manner.

Tenants are your clients (or, if you’re an agent, your landlord’s clients) and like any business, should be treated with the respect that any client of any business should be treated, whether or not they have some unsavoury habits.

“You what?” I hear some of you cry, “Respect?!”. Well, yes. If a tenant is treated with respect by the landlord or by the environment (ie, the property they are renting is not a hovel), quite often the respect will be mutual. And ‘respect’ needs just be based on the rules of good old customer service.

Now clearly this rule doesn’t apply in all situations, so what do you do if you didn’t realise, before handing over the keys, that you’d taken on a Neanderthal with a psychopathic grudge against buildings and furniture, and who couldn’t manage his money if Richard Branson was in charge of his bank account?

Well, by starting off on the right foot, you may find you inherit a Neanderthal friend by creating a sense of rapport (but if you do, keep them at arms length). Talk to them, even if it’s in grunt language. Communication is one of the best tools for avoidance of dispute in any form, in any walk of life.

If you’re sensible and use a quality Tenancy Agreement, you should have a clause that gives you the right to enter the property (with proper notice) to view, or repair where necessary. Use that legal right (but with respect)!

Often, landlords are unaware that they can (and should) pop round occasionally to check the property and to see how the tenants are doing. Rapport…. have a cuppa if offered. Chat about the weather. Pat the dog.

As a rule of thumb in agency, I recommend that agents visit the property every three months for the first year of the tenancy, then every six months thereafter. This rule is also available to landlords!

Each visit should take around 15 or 20 minutes (longer, if you literally want to chew the fat with your newly-found Neanderthal chum) and it should quickly become apparent if there’s an issue.

Obviously this is not a science and the best of us have been fooled on occasion. But it will provide the opportunity and advantage of keeping on good terms with the tenant and ensuring repair situations are not overlooked or ignored.

If the tenant doesn’t want to be on good terms, use your right anyway, quickly check the property over, get a ‘feel’ for the tenant’s situation and leave.

Rules Of Engagement:

1. Write to the tenant, suggesting a date and time of the visit. Agree on an alternative date and time if your original suggestion is inconvenient.
2. Politely suggest in the letter there may be a fee applicable if the tenant is not home at your agreed time (any fee stated must be reasonable).
3. Give at the absolute minimum, 48 hours notice (unless there’s an emergency), and preferably a week or two.
4. Be punctual.
5. Ask the tenant to accompany you around the house as you make a quick check.
6. Chat while there. Ask how the tenant is, how their job is, how the kids are, etc. You’d be surprised what you can glean by asking questions.
7. Write to the tenant after the visit, confirming any issues, recommending any remedies and stating any action (repairs for example) you intend to take. If you’re really keen on customer service, write to them where there are no issues, confirming the fact, building the rapport.
8. Schedule your next visit letter in Outlook or some other diary system.
9. Never visit ‘on the key’, ie, when the tenant’s not home. Lots of £20 notes have ‘gone missing from the coffee table’ when clients of mine have visited alone.
10. Unless there is already a problem with the tenant, try to avoid visiting more often than every three months. Tenants have a legal right of ‘quiet enjoyment’ and weekly, unannounced or unwarranted visits could be seen as harassment by the courts.
11. If you live 500 miles from the property, try to arrange someone to visit for you, or when you’re feeling bored in your South Coast home , take that day out to Aberdeen with the wife! If either option is impossible, and the property is not managed by an agent, contact agents local to the property to ask what they charge for one-off (or regular) visits. If no agent is available, look up local inventory clerks.
12. If you have hundreds of properties, you should employ somebody to do your visits, unless you need the social interaction!

There really isn’t an excuse for not visiting the property and performing one of the fundamental duties of a professional property investor. It’s fair to you, the tenant and the property.