Easing rent arrears after the excesses of Christmas
Posted on Fri, Feb 03, 2012 @ 03:11 AM
This time of year is the most common time for rent arrears to begin as the excesses of Christmas catch up with your tenants. Generally this is a temporary setback for you and your tenants, but well worth nipping in the bud early.
Here are our 4 tips to reduce the risk of rent arrears
1. Communicate regularly with your Tenants
Tenants that find they do not have enough money for their monthly rent fall in to two categories, proactive or reactive.
The proactive: are the ones that call you and explain their problem and plan how to solve their predicament with you, normally very quickly - unfortunately these tend to be very rare!
The reactive: are the ones that put their heads in the sand and only get around to solving their predicament when you come banging on the door, normally it is too late for a quick resolution and you are already feeling the cash flow pain. - Unfortunately these seem to be very common.
So if you as their landlord can find out sooner rather than later your tenants’ situation you can plan with them early enough to safeguard your cash flow and your asset. In the majority of cases catching rent arrears early ends with a happy Landlord and tenant.
If you communicate regularly hopefully you will know when they are struggling even before it is time to pay their monthly rent.
2. Discuss and agree an action plan
Planning has been mentioned a number of times already, if you can agree a plan that your tenant is aware of they can keep to your 90% their to bringing them back up to date.
This could require you sitting down and helping them go through their income and outgoings to see how quickly they could catch back up.
Once agreed, as in point one keep in regular contact
3. Protect your rent with ”rent guarantee" insurance
It is a back up and many Landlords swear by these insurances. There are plenty of these insurances on the market, although making comparison can often be a challenge. In this case your local letting agent is the most likely to help you with the right product.
4. Use a Letting Agent – Choose Martin & Co!
We are Martin & Co and these are our tips!
We know how busy things can be and communicating regularly, making plans with your tenants and choosing the right protection for your rental payments may not be your idea of exciting, so how about letting us take the burden off you. Contact us now and ask us what we can do to make your business as easy as possible for you.
