Rental and Property Management Services come of age as stable market matures

Timing is of vital importance, no matter what business you’re in. For those of you who are in the property letting business or in the business of looking for a place to let, these times are positive ones for you.

The current trends in the rental market indicate a time of flux and one where rents are already showing a slow increase in values – a trend which, according to the experts, will continue over the course of the coming 12 months.

“What we’re seeing now is that there’s no new property coming into the rental market,” says one Cork city based professional. “So, even though rents have come down over the last few years, we’re certain to see those rents stabilise and, in some cases achieve higher levels – according to the location of the property.”

Location is important and despite the overall sluggish performance of the economy, there are some hot spots being created in areas where companies are expanding. The area of Blackpool in Cork is one good example, where the fortunes of gaming company Blizzard has meant that rental prices there are currently achieving figures in the region of €1,100/month for a 2-bed apartment when the average is more like €900 for similar property in the city centre or in a suburb such as Douglas.

Stress free letting

The introduction into the frame of a letting and/or management agent is something desirous on both camps. Landlord /tenant relationships are a speciality unto themselves. As a landlord, for example, it’s not always easy to know just how to strike the right note. There is always the temptation on the part of the landlord to develop a friendly, pally sort of relationship from day one. There’s no reason why this can’t work in the right circumstances, but landlords and tenants aren’t friends – theirs is friendly business relationship of mutual interest that has to run the length of the course of the tenancy.

Simply having an intermediary betwixt the two helps the course of business run smoothly. When that intermediary is also a person who specialises in the very relationship of landlord and tenant, then there is all the more reason for it to make sound business sense.

An important factor of the current market is that tenants are more demanding than ever. Standards of quality are high and the letting agent is best placed to advise on precisely what the current exigencies are in today’s more demanding market.

For example, if a property is showing a high turnover of tenants, it may be a case of the landlord needing to invest in replacing carpet floors with timber floors in the property.

“Because tenants are becoming more demanding, a lot of landlords are changing to property management,” says one industry expert. “That way, they don’t have to deal with the tenant one-on-one – everything comes through us.

“There are so many issues that come up now that weren’t there in the past – such as ensuring that the property is listed with the PRTB (Private Residential Tenancies Board), getting the BER (Building Energy Rating) certificate or paying the NPPR (Non Principal Private Residence) charge; which is a tax that the government have come up with that’s an issue every year for the landlord… For overseas landlords, there’s also the issue of keeping up with income tax liabilities and in accordance with government directives, we retain a proportion of the rental income and send it to the Revenue department so that that end of things is kept up to date.”

Large banks of prospective tenants

The other very important element that an intermediary can bring to the table – apart from their years of wisdom – is a physical bag of tenants. Letting agencies are invaluable for the landlord in that they have already on their books a long list of prospective tenants. Getting your property to generate income is your aim and you make a good start by calling to the one shop in town that has the potential to supply you with multiple choices to make a start.

These days, letting agents are very focused on letting. With property sales continuing to remain slow in the current climate, the average auctioneering firm has developed a focus and a level of expertise in the area of letting and property management that simply wasn’t there heretofore.

It is, of course, important for a landlord to deal with an agent who has that expertise, experience and focus in letting and management.

Time is money

This represents a vital time-saving mechanism from the word GO. With a bit of luck, you may even be able to introduce a tenant straight away. The tenants are out there and you can find them, of course – whether it’s by newspaper advertising, word-of-mouth, a poster campaign or online – but all of that takes effort, expense and time.

Once the tenant is occupying the property, having someone to manage all the little day-to-day issues that go along with that is an extremely important time-saving service.

There are tenants… and then, there are tenants

Finding the right one for you, the landlord, is the challenge. The letting agency is well placed to quickly establish whether or not the tenant is going to be the right one for you by the screening service that they provide. Getting someone with references and with a proven professional attitude is very important in any long-term financial relationship.

“Before, I suppose that the reference check was along the lines of ‘I know such-and-such a person who works in Harry’s down the road who knows a fellah that knows our prospective tenant – I’ll give them a call,’” says one agent. “Nowadays, that attitude has completely changed – the whole thing is far more professional and the reference checks are taken very seriously. Property management firms are being paid to vet the tenant to make sure that they can live up to their agreement.”