Property management encompasses rental management , wherein the former also includes facilities management and could also involve the operations within a body corporate setup .
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Managing Residential &
Commercial Property ? There is a huge difference between managing a residential and a commercial property . In a residential property , it is commonly known that the landlord would fix the property and hand it over to the tenant for use as a place of residence . And when the contract terminates , the tenant is expected to return the property as they found it or better .
Whereas , in commercial property , the tenant may receive the property as a white box or without much character and they would then convert it into what the business requires and be branded accordingly to represent the business . The leases for commercial properties usually have a longer duration than residential properties .
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Ensuring Compliance & Professional Management
of a Property It is important that real estate agencies understand legislation surrounding rental property rights for both tenants and landlords . These would generally be the Rental Housing Act ( RHA ), the Consumer Protection Act ( CPA ) as well as the Estate Agency Code of Conduct .
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Landlord ' s Mistakes on Rental Management of a Property ? Paradoxically , the first and foremost aspect the landlord has to look out for is who they mandate to rent the property out on their behalf . If the ideal property practitioner is appointed , they ensure that they clarify processes and responsibilities of all parties in the rental agreement , so that when the process starts , there are no surprises .
The landlord must also ensure that they understand the mandate given to the agent , understand the lease agreement and whether the agreement with the agent is merely from procurement of a tenant or to include managing the rental on a monthly basis .
Some of the mistakes could be where a landlord relies entirely on the rental income to service the bond or to pay other expenses ; hence every landlord should leave room for vacancy and no rent income periods . This means that a landlord must have cash reserves to mitigate instances where tenants have delayed payment or not paid . Landlords should also realise that when the property is in a bad condition where they are responsible for the repairs , and this doesn ’ t happen , then the damages continue and this could devalue the property or cause the required restoration costs to skyrocket .
SA Real Estate Investor Magazine NOV 2021 35