With Christmas looming in the very near future, many landlords forget about their tenants and their rental properties, especially when it comes to having holidays.
Landlords should be sending out letters to their tenants at this time of year wishing them a merry Christmas and a safe new year and if you are a really nice landlord you may possibly consider dropping around a box of chocolates and a Christmas card, thanking the tenants for looking after your house over the past year.
As a landlord I fret about going on holiday. As my holidays don’t really happen that often, the thought of not being around for my houses can be a little daunting. I fret incase things go wrong, but if the right things are put in place before you go away, things should run rather smoothly and your holiday will be really relaxing, dreaming of purchasing more investment properties.
Firstly, if you haven’t done a property inspection in the last three months, book one in now. If maintenance issues will come to hand, and you will be able to attend to them before Christmas.
Secondly, if there are things which you require your tenant to clean or fix, you will need to issue them a 10 day notice (down load one from www.tenacies.govt.nz ) |
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Make sure you re-visit your property to ensure the things have been done.
If you do plan on going away, organise someone to look after your properties. Give the baby sitter a list of the address, tenants details, along with a list of the trades people whom you use. This will ensure that in the unlikely event there is an issue with the plumbing the baby sitter will know who to contact.
I also send a letter to my tenants letting them know that I will be away and should there be an emergency, please contact the baby sitter. I also give them a list of emergency contacts details as well, just incase.
It is also a good idea to ask your tenants to let you know if they are going away. This way if something happens to the house in their absence, you will be able to know where to contact them.
Of course we quite lucky with our houses and tenants. Not only do we endeavor to do regular checks of the properties and attend to maintenance issues straight away, we also have great tenants, who were of course carefully picked by our selves. |
