Getting into property is one of the most lucrative investments out there. You just can’t beat it as a long-term source of passive income.
However, one thing you’ll quickly learn is that it’s not as straightforward as finding tenants, making repairs and collecting the rent. That’s whether you’re a hands-off property investor, a hands-on career landlord or simply an accidental landlord.
It also requires a knowledge of things like legislation and tenant rights, issues like non-payment of rent, evictions and proper property maintenance.
So, finding the right balance between keeping your tenants, housing authorities and your bank account happy is key.
Good property management needs to be organised and process-driven so that you can more confidently make your investment work.
Here are 5 tips to helping you gain that confidence
1. The more you invest and maintain the more you can forget
Continually having your property in great condition means you can attract good quality tenants, who’ll be happy to stay long-term and look after the place. Allowing things like the boiler to regularly breakdown, then be repaired, or not replacing old appliances can have a negative impact on your time and pocket in the long run.
So, by investing in your apartment, you can make it as marketable and hassle-free as possible.
2. Find your own system to keep it organised
Put in place a time-plan with all your key dates like safety-cert expiry dates, rent due date, lease renewal dates etc. Then have a team of agents and tradesmen on-hand, so you can efficiently delegate these tasks and ensure you stay on top of them.
3. Inspect regularly
Your first inspection is the key one for learning the quality of your tenants. It should occur after three months or, certainly within the first six months of your lease, when you can give notice to end the tenancy more easily.
After that, it should initially happen every six months or at least once a year.
It should include items like the following; peeling paint, chimneys, mould issues, roof/guttering, bathroom maintenance, smoke/fire alarms etc
4. Managing rent non-payment
On occasion, your rent may be late, and it’s important to have a process to manage this with your tenants. This will help your tenants understand the consequences, while also helping remove any anger or frustration from the situation.
In Ireland there is a three-step formal process already in place:
- Give the tenant notice that they are in arrears. This can be done in writing or verbally, and you may be able to work out an arrangement here if you so wish.
- Serve the tenant a 14-day warning notice to pay rent.
- After 14 days, serve a 28-day notice of termination of tenancy.
Before you serve notice of termination it’s advisable to book an inspection, so you get a better idea why your tenants have not paid. There may be a good reason, and it may be a matter of working something out with them.
5. Investment return considerations
Finally, you should also consider doing a one-year review of how your investment is going. With booming rents in Ireland at the moment, you may decide to raise the rent by the permitted amount.
It also may be time to re-mortgage or take some equity out to invest in more property or other parts of your portfolio.
To conclude
All these tips will go a long way to ensuring that your investment is managed in the most efficient way for you.
Once you’ve got a process in place the chore of looking after your property becomes easier and you can focus on more on enjoying all the benefits.
Here at Platinum Property we’re always happy to help with any part of the property process. Click below to find out more