Tag: Landlords

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How to provide references to tenants effectively

How-to-provide-references-for-tenants

If you are a landlord or letting agent who has rented out properties to tenants in the past, you know that providing references is a crucial part of the process. Thus, we have constructed some useful guidance on how to provide references to tenants effectively.

 

In this article, you will also learn the benefits of using HomeHak.com to secure and streamline the referral process. Whether you are a seasoned landlord or agency or just starting in the rental industry, this post will provide you with valuable insights.

 

Keep reading to learn how to provide references to tenants with confidence and ease.

 

How-to-provide-references-for-tenants-HomeHak
Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

1. Verify the details of the tenancy

Include details such as the tenant’s move-in and out date and whether or not that was in line with the initial agreement.

 

Also, state if agreements regarding rental payments were honoured. Inform them as to whether or not the tenant gave sufficient notice before leaving your property.

2. Be honest and accurate

Don’t sugarcoat or exaggerate the tenant’s strengths or downplay your tenant’s weaknesses. Provide an unbiased, truthful and balanced assessment of the tenant’s suitability for another rental property.

 

This will help the tenant find a property that’s a good fit for them and protect your reputation as a referee. In some cases, rather than providing a negative reference for a candidate, a landlord or agent may opt not to provide a reference at all.

3. Provide relevant information

Include information that’s helpful to the tenant and their future landlord or agency. For example: the tenant’s rental history, reliability, consistency and any other relevant information that could impact their ability to rent a property.

 

Providing too much irrelevant information can be overwhelming and unhelpful. Remember to stick to the facts! Only provide information that is relevant to the tenant’s rental application. Avoid including any personal opinions or assumptions.

4. Get permission from the tenant

If a third party (such as another landlord or agency) approaches you for a reference, remember to contact your tenant before providing it. This will help protect the tenant’s privacy and ensure that their information is only shared with parties that they have authorised.

 

Explain to the tenant what information you will include in the reference. In addition, your tenants should be informed of who you will share the reference with. Never disclose any unnecessary confidential information in any form about the tenant or their family.

 

How-to-provide-references-to-tenants-HomeHak
Photo by Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash

5. Provide up-to-date contact information

You will be helping the tenant’s future landlord or agent to verify the information provided. They should be able to contact you if they have a question about the reference or the tenant.

6. Do not discriminate

This means that you should not base your reference on factors such as:

  • Gender
  • Marital status
  • Family status
  • Age
  • Disability
  • Sexual orientation
  • Race
  • Religion
  • Membership of the Traveller community.

Instead, focus on the tenant’s relevant qualifications, attributes and suitability as a tenant.

 

For more information, have a look at Ireland’s Equal Status Acts 2000-2018.

7. Don’t retaliate against a tenant for exercising legal rights

This behaviour will likely reflect badly on you as the referee. Besides, it may perpetuate a culture of illicit activity in the rental property market.

8. Keep records of the references you provide

Make sure to keep copies of the reference form and any other relevant documents. For example: emails or phone call notes. This is crucial as they may be requested from you at a later date.

 

For accuracy and security, add your signature and the date to your written references. Send the document in a scanned .pdf format to avoid the document being formatted or changed without your knowledge.

9. Provide timely references

Respond promptly to reference requests and provide the reference within a reasonable time frame. This can help the tenant secure a property quickly.

10. Avoid using colloquial language

Remember that tenants who request a reference may not need it for the same city or country where they have rented a home or room from you. Therefore, you should avoid a casual communication style so the document travels well across different regions and cultures.

 

Keep the language straightforward. Otherwise, if a non-English speaker feeds your text into a translator, they could struggle to understand the context and your sentiment.

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Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash

How to use HomeHak to provide references:

Considering everything, the process of providing references can be time-consuming and challenging. This is especially important when dealing with a large number of tenants.

 

HomeHak.com has made it easier for landlords and agencies to provide reliable references to past tenants seeking new homes. Tenants can simply fill in this form to request a reference from their previous landlord or letting agent.

Request-a-reference-on-HomeHak
This is a request for a reference from a Tenant on HomeHak.com

 

The landlord or letting agent will receive a request by email. As you can see in the below image, the request comes with a template you can edit and use:

Provide-a-reference-on-HomeHak
This is a request for a reference in your role as Landlord on HomeHak.com

HomeHak allows landlords and letting agents to:

  • Provide ID-verified references to tenants with ease
  • Quickly and accurately provide trustworthy and credible references
  • Edit or withdraw your reference from your HomeHak account in case you change your mind
  • Delete your contact details (from that date, your reference will be attributed to “unregistered member”)

 

In addition, you can use the HomeHak Tenant Selector to filter and communicate with potential tenants. This will allow you to find new tenants for any properties or rooms that have become available since your tenant recently moved out.

 

Would you like to learn more about how HomeHak can help you select trustworthy tenants? Visit HomeHak for Landlords or HomeHak for Letting Agents.

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Seven FAQs for letting agents and DIY landlords

Speaking on the phone from the office

We have prepared the most frequently asked questions to help you understand HomeHak and our unique approach for letting agents and DIY landlords.

 

Keep reading if you want to discover how HomeHak can help you find organised and trustworthy tenants.

 

Speaking on the phone from the office
Photo by Berkeley Communications on Unsplash

 

1. What is HomeHak for Letting Agents?

HomeHak is a people platform that substantially cuts the time and cost of sourcing organised, trustworthy tenants for letting agents and some DIY landlords.

 

2. What does HomeHak do for Letting Agents?

HomeHak facilitates a database of organised home seekers in the market. We work with home seekers to prepare them before applying to you for homes.

 

When you want organised tenants, go to HomeHak Tenant Selector. Filter, sort, and select from the latest home seekers in the market and deal properly with a targeted number of applicants suited to your property.

 

There is no need to advertise and invite hundreds of applications for every property. Why antagonise thousands of desperate home seekers with property ads when each property only has a few beds? Focus on better-organised people with good-quality applications.

 

Cut productivity and financial costs of needlessly administering hundreds of emails and phone calls. Better concentrate your resources on servicing existing landlord clients well and winning new business.

 

Why incur the burden and risk of protecting data for hundreds of applicants instead of dealing properly with the home seekers who ideally suit your property?

 

3. How does HomeHak help home seekers and tenants?

HomeHak helps home seekers to organise, store and promote their home-related information so they can present their case for a home professionally.

 

Home seekers can apply for a home with one great HomeHak Tenant CV instead of repeatedly sharing sensitive information over insecure emails in formats that do not help their profile look good. Importantly, they have greater control over their information. We also help home seekers to demonstrate their trustworthiness with tools to verify their identity and collect character references.

 

Seven-FAQs-for-Letting-Agents-and-DIY-landlords
Photo by Ilyuza Mingazova o Unsplash

4. How much does HomeHak cost for letting agents and DIY landlords?

Join and use HomeHak for FREE (without having to include your credit card details) as a letting agent for six months and a DIY landlord for one month. After this free trial period, there is a fee of €25 per agent/member – for the year. It is FREE to advertise a property for rent on HomeHak.

 

5. How does HomeHak earn income?

HomeHak is a people platform focused on providing value to home seekers, as well as letting agents, DIY landlords and homeowners who want to let a room.

 

Home seekers benefit from many features for free during the free trial period. Afterwards, home seekers get some features for free and can pay for additional features they find valuable. Membership is currently €25 per annum for someone employed. Students pay nothing for their first year and get discounted membership afterwards (currently €10/60% off). Anyone “retired” or “between jobs” pays nothing.

 

6. What are differences between HomeHak and property websites?

Price

Property websites make income from letting agents and DIY landlords advertising properties for a fee. In addition, they use properties as click bait and earn income from advertisers featured on the property pages. After a free trial, HomeHak earns a subscription from some home seekers, letting agents, DIY landlords and homeowners who rent a spare room. Advertising a property is FREE.

 

Focus

Property websites focus on advertising and property. However, HomeHak focuses on meeting the needs of people who:

  • Need to get selected to rent a home that meets their needs and want to protect their personal and home-related data.
  • Want to provide top quality professional letting agency services.
  • Are DIY landlords and homeowners who want to carefully select the most trustworthy ideal tenant/housemate/lodger and avoid overwhelming administration and GDPR risk.

 

Quality over quantity

Property websites, as advertising websites, strain to reach a high quantity of views of property advertisements and generate a high amount of enquiries for advertisers. HomeHak focuses on quality. We help letting agents and DIY landlords determine which home seekers’ needs are best met by their property and who would make the best tenant. They can then do a good professional job with a smaller number of the more organised applicants and save the cost of needless admin involving hundreds of unsuccessful applicants.

 

7. How can you get started with HomeHak?

If you want to receive HomeHak Tenant CVs as applications, just include this phrase in your property ads: “We welcome Tenant CVs from HomeHak.com as applications for this property”

 

Contact us for a demo if you also want instant access to trustworthy tenants. Support an alternative to the dominant property websites and save time and money. 

 

 

 

 

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How to prepare a move-in packet to welcome new tenants

Folders

You went through the screening process, found an ideal tenant, and they’re all set to move in. The hardest part of getting someone to rent your vacant space is now over. However, instead of switching to autopilot, use the weeks between the lease signing and the move-in date to create a packet of information for new tenants.

 

A move-in packet has two benefits:

 

  • It ensures you have all the paperwork you need in one place
  • It helps your new renters feel like they’ve established a personal connection with you right off the bat.

 

Photo by Marissa Daeger on Unsplash

What to include:

Copy of the lease signed by both parties

This is exactly what it says, a copy of the legally binding contract signed and dated.

Move-in checklist

In the first few days after a tenant moves in, it’s crucial to walk through the apartment with them and make a note of any existing damage or wear on a move-in checklist that itemises each feature in a rental. That way, you’ll know exactly what to charge a renter when they move out, and they will be aware of their responsibilities for damage incurred.

 

Note: If you’re a Rentler user, we have a lawyer-approved move-in checklist ready to print and use.

Instructions for paying rent

Make it easy for a new tenant to pay rent for the first time. Cover all the payment methods you accept and any late fees incurred for not paying by a certain date. For example, do you accept payment online? Make sure to write down the website they need to go to and how many days it will take to process the payment.

 

If you prefer a mailed check, write the address down and include any special notes about the forms of payment you accept.

Emergency contact information

If you have a special number tenants can call for after-hours emergencies, include it here. If you have a maintenance person on-call, include their number. Also, include the phone number of the local police department in case of emergencies like break-ins and theft.

 

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Photo by Firmbee on Unsplash

 

Parking passes

If your renters need a special parking pass or sticker, include it in the packet. For assigned parking spots, give your tenants the information about who to call if someone parks in their space. Whether you have a towing company you use or prefer to have them contact you directly first, make sure the info on all parking procedures is in there. Parking is one of the biggest frustrations facing renters. Therefore, make it as painless as possible, and your renters will stick around.

Map of fire extinguishers and emergency exits

If you are renting out a unit in a larger apartment complex, make a map of the building with the emergency info highlighted. For homes, you can include a sheet with information about where fire extinguishers are located and instructions for testing fire alarms.

 

Fire-extinguisher
Photo by Tak Kei Wong on Unsplash

Maintenance request forms

Having a form for maintenance requests is crucial. That way, you have a record of what needs to be done, and the process is streamlined for everyone. Include a few copies in your packet (Rentler users have access to online maintenance request forms to make it easy).

Lead paint disclosure

If your house or apartment complex was built before 1978, you are legally obligated to include a lead paint disclosure form. In addition, you will want to include some safety guides for living in a house where lead paint exposure is possible.

Guide to the neighbourhood

Go the extra mile and create a sheet of paper with the nearest hospitals and their phone numbers, and any special information about safety measures (i.e. “The road in front of this complex is shut down one Saturday in June for parade routes.”). You can maybe even make a list of the closest places to get takeout food.

 

Put all the information you’ve compiled for their move-in packet in a cheap plastic binder and give it to your new renter when you hand them the keys.

 

Have a look at our neighbourhood guides!

Bonus:

After a day of moving furniture, the last thing a new renter wants to do is run to the grocery store for toilet paper or dig through their boxes for a shower liner to take a much-needed shower. Put a cheap plastic liner, a roll of TP and maybe some paper towels for the pizza they’ll inevitably order on the counter, and you’ll be the world’s greatest landlord. Sometimes it’s the simple things!

 

Check out this article on tips to help your new tenants!

 

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Qualities Of Good Tenants – Prospective Tenant Standard For Landlords

Girl in her room

Finding Good Tenants – Prospective Tenant Standard For Landlords

 

Finding a good tenant is a bit like dating. You work your way through interested applicants.Until, you come across someone with compatible qualities that you can trust. There is the headache of repairing damage. Choosing the wrong renter for your rental property can lead to big expenses. So, here is how to look for qualities of good tenants that aren’t going to cause you headaches.

 

 

Stable Income and Employment

Firstly, landlords need proof of stable income and employment. This is to feel confident in their tenant’s ability to pay rent in full and on time every month. Note, the industry standard rent-to-income ratio. It suggests that a tenant should make three times the cost of rent in monthly income, approximately.

 

Ability to be Honest

Secondly, it’s important to follow a thorough screening process. This can help you spot applicants that might present fraudulent information. They are doing this to get approved for your rental property. Further, a reference check is a good idea. Employers and past landlord references are the best sources for useful information. They can provide the applicant’s professional and rental behavior. Essentially, knowing more about an applicant’s past and intentions can help you determine whether they demonstrate the best tenant qualities

 

Respectful Behaviour

Thirdly finding tenants who act respectfully to both landlord and neighbors is crucial. Another reason to note, a respectful tenant will inform you of maintenance issues. Additionally, they will take care to handle their own responsibilities while living in your rental property.

 

Respectful tenants are more likely to:

  • Pay rent on time
  • Follow lease terms
  • Refrain from causing problems with other tenants or neighbors
  • Keep from damaging your property beyond normal wear and tear
  • Communicate politely and in a timely matter

Good Communicator

Fourth, communication is the key to an effective landlord-tenant relationship. From the moment an applicant reaches out to express interest, consider their communication style.

 

Use the below to ask these questions:

  • Are they attentive?
  • Quick to respond to questions or messages?
  • Pay attention to details and read postings in full before asking questions?
  • Do they follow through on requests for documentation after applying?
  • Do they answer your questions fully or avoid tough questions?
Girl speaking on the phone at home
Photo by Kevin Laminto on Unsplash

Present Organizational Skills

Finally, an organized tenant is a great tenant. Weed out uninterested, unqualified tenants early on by focusing on organized applicants.

In addition, organized tenants will come prepared with their HomeHak tenant CV. As a result, helping to speed up the leasing process. Here they have documents and checks ready to go. They should also respond quickly. Good organization shows that they’re serious about signing the lease. Furthermore, they are willing to comply with your rental requirements.

 

To summarise qualities of good tenants – Stable Income and Employment. Ability to be Honest. Respectful Behavior. Good Communicator and Present Organizational Skills.

 

Are you looking for new tenants for your property? We’d recommend you to ask the applicants for a Tenant CV.

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Move-In Day: HomeHaks Top Tips On Ways To Help Your New Tenants

Move-In Day: HomeHaks Top Tips On Ways To Help Your New Tenants

Introduction

The job of building a relationship with a tenant begins the first day you show them around. When a renter is choosing a new place to live, how they feel about a potential landlord can count for a lot. It counts for even more when it comes time for tenants to decide whether to stay or go. And if they’ve kept up their end of the bargain by being clean, quiet, and reliable with their payments, you’ll probably want to make sure to keep them around.

Establish a good relationship on move-in day

One of the best times to establish a good rapport with your tenants is on move-in day. Renters will remember the help you offered on that stressful day, and they know they can count on you in the event of a problem and for any questions they might have.

 

Moving Day Tips
Photo by ConvertKit on Unsplash

How to help

To come up with ways to welcome incoming tenants, put yourself in their shoes. It’s going to be an exhausting couple of days of unpacking boxes and arranging furniture. What will they need the most during that time that doesn’t involve too much time or effort? Here are a few options for a complete welcome package.

Make sure your tenant is set up for rent payments

This is something you should take care of before move-in day, just to make sure your tenants don’t have too many other arrangements to make. As soon as your tenant has been accepted and paid their deposit, reach out to them to organise if they need to connect their bank account, credit card, or debit card or if it will be cash for quick and easy payments. If they haven’t gotten set up by move-in day, include a friendly reminder in their welcome package outlining how future payments will be made.

Get them familiar with their new neighbourhood

After all, they haven’t just chosen your building – they’ve chosen your part of the city. Your tenant’s welcome package should include a list of nearby banks, grocery stores, post offices, doctor’s offices, pharmacies, haircutters, dry cleaners, petrol stations, childcare and pet care services – anything a tenant might need on a day-to-day basis. With your help, they’ll know where to go in a pinch without spending too much time Googling.

 

This list can go beyond basic services, too. Talk to some popular local restaurants, bars, shops and entertainment venues about supplying coupons to include in your tenant’s welcome package. This tells your tenant that they can come to you for suggestions about where to go when they have free time.

 

HomeHaks Top Tips On Ways To Help Your New Tenants
Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

Make their first week easy with a few basic supplies

Try and stock your tenant’s kitchen and bathroom with basic necessities. For example: toilet paper, paper towels, all-purpose cleaner, batteries, and light bulbs. This will help your tenants accustom to their new place without having to make a run to the store. They’ll be grateful for your foresight. Check out this article for more information on helping your new tenants on move-in day. 

Connect them with their new neighbors

If you rent a single-family home, make sure to tell new tenants a little bit about their new neighbors and even facilitate an introduction if you know them well. Show tenants that you’re not just operating a building – you’re building a community.

 

Check out this article by HomeHak Best Ways To Be A Great Landlord – HomeHaks Top Recommendations!

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Happy Tenants – The Importance Of Having Great Tenants

apartment roomates

The tenants you choose have a significant effect on the success of the investment property you manage or own. Read our guide to learn more about the steps you can take to maintain a happy and positive relationship with your tenants.

Introduction

Many of us have experienced the financial burden and time spent resolving bad tenancies. For those agents and homeowners who are lucky to avoid this, there are ways to minimise the risk of it occurring. There are many quality tenants out there, but it can take patience to find them. If you take extra consideration to search for and choose the right tenant now, you can save time and alleviate stress in the future.

Statistics

In May 2019, Ireland reported its lowest rental housing availability of all time. Housing Europe report that the trends are similar across the EU. As tough as this is, this means the odds are in your favour to choose the best tenants as there is no shortage. Our guide below outlines what the ideal tenant is, why they are important, and how to find them.

 

man working at home with pet dog

What is the ideal tenant?

For many, an ideal tenant is one who respects the property and consistently pays the rent on time. This is an excellent start, but what about landing those top-quality tenants that give you complete peace of mind? These are the tenants that make the property a worthy and stress-free investment, and the ones we have valuable, uncomplicated and rewarding relationships with. These are the ‘Happy Tenants’. They exist and are looking to rent a home. The secret to finding these tenants is looking for candidates that really suit the property.

 

The Happy Tenant: who are they?

A Happy Tenant is the right tenant for the right property. This extends beyond the textbook description of a tenant that follows the law as set out by your governing legislation. A happy tenant is someone who has a good quality of life with the property they live in as a contributing factor. 

 

Consider this scenario

You have an applicant named John, he has a perfect rental history, excellent references and the rent cost is only 30% of his salary. He also has a large pet dog, but his references specify that as an upstanding tenant, there have not been any issues. John has applied for a property 1.5 hours commute from his work without a backyard. 

 

As an agent/homeowner, you are looking for an excellent tenant for a long-term tenancy of ideally a minimum of 4 years.

 

Is there a risk?

John certainly sounds like a top candidate with a rental history and the income to demonstrate he can pay the rent and look after the property. But is he the most suitable? There are many variables to consider when finding the right tenant. In this case, you are looking for someone in the long term. Someone who needs to travel 3 hours every day for work and owns a large dog is not the best tenant for this property without a backyard. Will this lifestyle keep him happy? There is a risk that John might not stay in the property for long when you consider the physiological and psychological needs of humans and pets.

Ideal tenant

The ideal tenant can be anyone; they can have pets, they can be a first-time renter, students, working professionals, families etc. A pet owner could be a perfect tenant, as having a pet takes responsibility and they are likely looking for a long term home It comes down to whether they want to and can make a home in the property. We will explore why this is important below.

 

Why do Happy Tenants make a difference?

“We have to be ahead of the game as far as possible in thinking about the happiness of tenants. In the end, they pay the rent and we want to find the highest rent and the most loyal tenant in the long term.” Emerging Trends in Real Estate®: Europe 2019 – pwc.com. 

 

It is true, the right tenant can make a major difference to how the tenancy carries out, and how the investment performs. Just like a satisfied worker who loves their job, a happy tenant is someone who respects their environment and will go beyond the basic requirements to maintain, preserve and improve it. This is the difference between the people that consider their rental a property, and others who consider it a home.  Here’s a closer look at some of the benefits of ideal tenants:

 

Longer-term tenancies

Re-letting a property is time-consuming and costly. Long term tenancies minimise the time and costs involved in managing vacates, and the surprises that may come with them. They also lessen advertising and re-letting costs, along with the downtime from the property being vacant. As a result, long term tenants provide sustained financial security for the homeowner. In addition, minimal turnaround reduces the risk of bad tenants, and wear and tear caused by regular move-ins/outs.

 

Property Maintenance & Upkeep 

Tenants who see their rental as a home share a common interest with agents and homeowners to maintain the property. This means reporting maintenance issues in a timely manner before they escalate into something that will cause a higher financial burden.


Stronger relationships

A good relationship results in cognitive trust, respect and practical communication. Overall, it makes the whole rental partnership easier. If you have a strong relationship with your tenant, contractual needs and etiquette will be mutually enforced and respected.

 

In summary, finding the right tenant will save you time, money and hassle. Not only will it make your life easier, but it will have an invaluable impact on the life of the tenant.

 

How do you find Happy Tenants?

You have the power to find the right tenant when leasing a property. A tenant CV will help you determine what an applicant is looking for, or you can ask questions. You need to determine whether the property you are leasing matches the needs of the potential tenant. Some questions you may want to consider:

 

  • Are there any specific amenities they require?
  • Are there any specific attributes they are looking for in a property? E.g. Do they need a backyard or secured garage? 
  • Can you accommodate for any of the things they need that you don’t currently have on offer?
  • How close is their workplace? Will they have a long commute?

Find a suitable solution

Targeting multitudes of candidates is counter-productive when you consider the amount of time it takes filtering through applications to find the best one. You could instead save time and find someone that is most suitable by reading their tenant CV. Another way for agencies to find great tenants in the area is to form relationships with local businesses; word of mouth and referrals are effective ways to find interest locally. 

 

How to figure out tenant suitability

A great indicator of tenant suitability is to find out how close the property is to someone’s workplace. Let’s revisit our applicant John: John has submitted a tenant CV, his CV specifies that he currently has a large dog, but it is going back to his ex-wife in a month. It also states that although his office is located in the city, he works remotely and is looking for somewhere further out of town to suit his lifestyle.

 

Suddenly, with a little more information John seems like a very suitable tenant. Thanks to John’s tenant CV and your extra effort to search for information, you have found someone that is an excellent fit and is likely to stay for the long term. 

 

Result

A tenant that makes the effort to put together a CV shows that they care about finding their ideal home. It shows they are responsible and accommodating as they have taken action to make your life easier by providing you with the information you need. If they provide references that are already verified by a third party, this is a useful indication of whether they are trustworthy and organised. It is difficult to truly know what type of tenant someone will be from an application form; so reading a CV can help verify a candidate’s needs and whether they are suitable.

 

Click here to start browsing tenant CVs today.

Key Takeaways: Happy Tenants

Agents and homeowners have a difficult job in managing properties, but they have the capacity to make it easier. This can be done if you find a Happy Tenant that loves coming home to your property and treats it as their own. It’s business – According to Forbes and many business leaders, becoming more customer-focused leads to a profitable organisation. If you take a professional and empathetic approach to tenant needs you can develop a loyal, successful and long-term relationship.

 

Requesting Tenant CVs is the smartest way to find great tenants – Find out why!

 

References