Landlords often ask us what goes on
behind the scenes at The Key Place and so we thought we would share our
experiences, and what we have learned from those experiences, with you.
I had a call from one
of my team to say that a tenant of ours had stormed into the office shouting
and swearing and demanding money to stay in a hotel.
A wee bit of background to
this: a landlord that we only find tenants for (TFO) has the flat
upstairs from his, and there was a pretty big leak from her flat into the flat
below. The TFO landlord lives overseas and we don’t hold insurance
for her, and so there was a delay in getting the leak fixed and the works dealt
with. Our angry tenant had to move out and we agreed to put him up
in alternative accommodation or to give him an allowance to stay with friends
and family. He chose to stay with friends and family.
So why the sudden change of heart that
led to him storming into our office demanding cash to stay in
hotel? A few months ago this would have seemed completely out of
character as he was a good tenant with a secure job who paid his rent on
time. I was suspicious about what was going on. Well I
called him myself and told him that we had found him a B&B locally and that
I would pay for his room directly, and give him an allowance for
food. He wasn’t happy with this offer and wanted the cash
instead. In fact he not only wanted the cash, he was desperate for
the cash. This got me wondering what for? Drugs? Drug
debts? Certainly something that was causing him a lot of
stress. Having called his bluff, I never heard from him again.
This got me thinking about what had
happened. The tenant was acting irrationally as he clearly wanted
cash instead of just a bed. However I chose not to offer cash, and
by calling his bluff, I found out that it wasn’t a B&B he was after at
all.
The other consideration here is the
overseas landlord trying to manage her flat from overseas. Had her
property been fully managed by The Key Place, the problem would have been dealt
with much quicker. We offer insurance to our fully managed landlords
and so could have actioned the claim on her behalf too.
This is just one of many real life
stories in our new Confessions of a Letting Agent blog.
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#realestate #ownermanagedbusiness #retirement #retirementplanning
#energyefficiency #privaterentedsector #prs #privaterentedsector
#propertyinvesting
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