Assetsoft - Blog #tenant relationship

Top Things That a Tenant Management Software Can Do

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 07:56:00 -0500

As a real estate business owner, you know how important customers can be. A good set of clients forms the backbone of the business. Client data and information can be so crucial that many property managers hesitate to upgrade their systems because of this.

When you move to new software, you can often lose data along the way. Real estate businesses are afraid of this. The list of customers most business owners have is hard-won. These are people they have acquired over years of service. Risking losing this information is unthinkable for many companies.

Importance of a Tenant Management Software

The above paragraph perfectly highlights the importance of customers. However, one must remember most of these people are former tenants or referrals of former tenants. So, essentially the best way to build up a loyal clientele is by improving tenant-landlord relationships.

With evictions being such a dreaded practice, the guide to getting good tenants starts from the lease signing itself. As a property manager, your tenants must face no problems during their stay. A satisfied lease-holder can help make work easier for you as well.

Besides this, a tenant who has received top-notch service is sure to recommend you to a friend or colleagues, helping bring in more traffic.

A tenant management software can help you achieve this by centralizing all management processes under one roof. Here are the main features of this software.

Tenant Onboarding

A tenant onboarding service helps landlords run a background check on applicants. The system collects data like past housing history, criminal history, if any, credit scores, and more. Armed with this information, the landlords onboard only those who pose the least risk.

Effortless Transactions

A tenant management software allows tenants to make payments, pay fines under one system. As soon as they pay rent, both the landlord and the lease-holder receive notifications about the transaction's success. Moreover, the system stores and categorizes these records to avoid future bill confusion.

Disseminate Information

The dedicated tenants portal on the software lets them log in to the system to access vital information about the property. Alerts about building meetings and CAM fees are also sent to their tenant account via this system.

Features to Look For In a Tenant Management Software

There are several tenant management software for a real estate business owner to choose from. But when doing so, it is necessary to select a service that fulfills a firm set of criteria. This list includes:

Cloud Storage

Property managers collect a significant amount of data on the tenant when signing leases. From credit scores to salary information, they come to know a lot about their tenants.

A cloud-based helps store this private information in a safe place. The property manager must store the files in a secure, centralized, and well-categorized platform for future use. Digital storage helps keep the data from hazards like fires and floods.

Cloud storages also come with high-grade security with solid authentication protocols. Since not everyone can access this information, it makes your business a lot less worrying.

Easy Interface for Tenants

With any tenant management software, the ease of the tenant must be a central priority. Built-in client portals help collect vital information under one roof. A simple, easy-to-navigate front page can help users get easier access to crucial information on the site.

Such a system helps them be up to date with notifications and relevant news about the building. Clients also share their views and recommendations with the management via such portals. This system facilitates better communications between the tenant and the landlord, resulting in a healthier relationship.

Must Use AI technology

An automated system is a must for every tenant management system. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help save a lot of energy and time because it can process tenant requests without human help.

Advantages of Tenant Management Software

With a manual tenant management system, a person must be present to process all customer requests. But by installing tenant management software with AI support, you can leave tasks like handling chats and finding searches to the automation.

Some software comes with more advanced bots that are self-learning. This phrase means that the AI reads existing data and integrates it into its system. It helps the bot converse with tenants engagingly and understandably by imitating the writing style of the users. You can even teach the bot to build and send tenant emails.

Rules All Property Managers Must Know About

While dealing with your tenants, you must be consistently professional. Never put them in a situation that makes them uncomfortable in any way. Any disputes are to be solved amicably and legally.

Tenants have several laws protecting them from discrimination. As a landlord, you must be aware of these laws. The property laws change from state to state. However, the clauses for most places resemble the Uniform Residental Landlord And Tenant Act (URLTA) or the Model Residential Landlord-Tenant Code in one way or another.

Fair Housing Act

The Fair Housing Act is another necessary act you must know as a property manager. This law works to prohibit discrimination in housing on the following grounds.

Discrimination based upon race or color
Discrimination based upon religion
Discrimination based upon sex (this includes all forms of sexual harassment)
Discrimination based upon national origin

Discrimination based upon familial status (meaning denial of housing to families with children)
Discrimination based upon disability

Getting Professional Help

If tenant-landlord relationship improvement, consider getting a third party. Hiring a firm to handle complex and often contentious processes can improve your business relationships. For example, CAM reconciliations are one of the most volatile tasks for a property manager out there. This reconciliation is a year-end meeting for the discussion of standard area maintenance.

CAM Reconciliation

As no fixed template or rules govern this process, CAM reconciliation can be a hotspot of disputes. The tenant's CAM fees are usually included in the lease and paid annually. But sometimes, when the maintenance expenses exceed the money spent. In such a situation, the landlord sends an invoice to the tenant.

Improvement in Tenant-Landlord Relationship

Usually, the lease-holder may feel that the property owner is out to scam them. The latter may also grow aggravated due to the former's refusal to pay the fees.

A third-part team in such a situation introduces a refreshing amount of clarity. The tenant is assured of the fairness and objectivity of their accounting. The landlord, meanwhile, can rest easy knowing that their lease will be willing to help with the CAM fees.

The Assetsoft team can help you with your CAM reconciliation and tenant management software needs. Choose a real estate management software that actally meets your business needs. Want to know more? Contact us today!

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Common Tenant Complaints and How to Resolve Them

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 08:00:00 -0500

Managing properties is not an easy job. With constant complaints, maintenance problems, and difficult tenants to deal with, your job can become extremely tedious. When tenants reach out to you, however, you are legally obligated to resolve the complaint in an equitable manner for all parties involved.

It is the responsibility of a property manager to create solutions that keep tenants happy. When tenants are treated right, you will notice an improvement in retention rates, and your reputation will precede you.

In this post, we have listed the most common complaints that tenants make as well as tips for how you can resolve these issues.

1. Maintenance requests

Maintenance problems are the most common form of complaint. Based on research, you will most likely be dealing with problems such as:

Plumbing
Heating and Cooling
Pests and Rodents
Electrical malfunctions

Here’s what you need to do to handle any complaint that comes in related to maintenance.

Firstly, ensure that every tenant knows how to file a complaint or maintenance request. This should be included in the lease or a document handed to the tenant. It should also include the expected turnaround time and what they need to do in case there is an emergency.

The next step would be to reply back to the tenant in a prompt manner. Delaying or not responding to the tenant is the fastest way to get them annoyed, and a frustrated tenant is not easy to deal with. Make sure you are able to handle the maintenance request within the allotted time frame. If you are not able to, it should be explained to the tenant in detail, so they understand why it is taking so long.

Once the maintenance is complete, reach out to the tenant in a couple of days to confirm if the problem has been fixed. Also, make sure to keep a written or digital log of all the maintenance requests and solutions as this will be important in case you need to evict a tenant or fight a court case.

The Facilio software, which is a property operation and maintenance platform, can help you digitize the maintenance of your properties. It can even help you improve the lifecycle of the assets in your properties by remotely monitoring all your spaces and equipment.

2. Noise complaints

Noise complaints can come from either external or internal sources. If the noise is coming from an outside source such as next-door properties loudly blasting music throughout the day, then you have two courses of action:

You speak to that property owner on behalf of your tenant and explain the situation.

If that doesn’t work, you may need to invest in soundproofing measures for that tenant or all tenants on that side of the property.

Loud sounds coming out of nearby properties is not within your control. However, tenants still expect you to do something about the situation, so you may have to resort to the above actions.

If the noise complaint is coming from within your own property, then the problem becomes much simpler. Here’s what you need to do:

Speak to the tenant directly, explain the issue, and remind them to be quieter. If required, you can even offer to move the tenant to another unit.

Once the complaint has been resolved, wait a few days to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. Once confirmed, you should reach out to the tenant who made the complaint and notify them.

Ideally, the lease you provide to tenants should include information pertaining to how much noise can be emitted from any individual unit as well as a curfew on loud noises/music. This way, noise complaints can be reduced from the start, and if required you can legally serve a quit notice to the tenant if they refuse to comply.

3. An unreachable landlord

Tenants can get frustrated when the property manager does not reply to complaints in a prompt manner. There may be times when you can’t reach your phone but the tenant will still get upset unless they are aware of the situation.

For this reason, a system is required that informs the tenants about the current situation and allows them to file a complaint online. The Facilio software is perfect for this as it can create an online portal that tenants can use to file a complaint. This way, the complaint can be resolved at leisure without having to respond immediately.

4. Unannounced visits to the property

You need to be aware that entering a rental property unannounced is a criminal offense depending on where you live. Even constant requests for entry can be taken up in court. Unless there is an emergency, it is advisable to give the tenant a 24-hour notice before you attempt entry. Also, on the legal side, the lease should note that the rental property will be subject to inspections at the discretion of the property manager.

5. Infestations and pest problems

Pests are a common problem and it is the manager’s responsibility to take immediate action to remove them. Here are the steps you need to take:

Request an inspection from the tenant and identify the intensity of the problem

Then contact the exterminator immediately to set up an urgent inspection. Ideally, you should have an exterminator company that you have vetted ready for this purpose.

If the tenants don’t have another place to stay, you should move them to a temporary unit until the extermination process has been completed.

Identify the root cause of the problem and notify the other tenants to also check for similar infestations. Once completed, the tenants can move back into their property

Managing both properties and tenants at the same time can be difficult, but using software built for property maintenance can be a game-changer. Assetsoft can help you set up a real estate software solution tailored to your property, making your life as a property manager just that much simpler.

Top 9 Best Practices For CAM Reconciliation

Sat, 07 Aug 2021 08:00:00 -0500

Common Area Maintenance (CAM) reconciliation sounds simple. Just add up all common area expenses and divide them among all the tenants. But in reality, it is a complex and time-consuming process. You might miss certain expenses or end up overcharging your tenants. Regardless, any error in CAM reconciliations has a negative impact on property management. That’s why a thorough reconciliation process is essential.

While the task is tedious, our list of best practices helps make your CAM reconciliation more accurate.

Impact of a good CAM Reconciliation process

The money recovered from CAM reconciliations is used to operate and maintain common areas. An accurate CAM reconciliation process has various benefits other than just a financial boost.

Better tenant relationship

A transparent and timely reconciliation makes tenants trust you more. They will also be motivated to pay rent on time and also be responsible for maintenance. If the tenants are kept in the loop of the process, it leads to fewer CAM-related disputes. Through a good CAM reconciliation, you can build a better brand image and also get more referrals from trusting clients.

Be ahead of competitors

With around 2 million real estate agents in the US alone, the industry has become very competitive. To stand out, property managers need to provide additional amenities to tenants. Having control over the CAM expenses can help cover the costs of such amenities and also improve your brand image.

Negotiate leases

Lease negotiations need to be profitable for both the property manager and the tenants. A good CAM reconciliation process covers all property management costs while also giving tenants the best amenities.

Tips for CAM reconciliation

Common area maintenance expenses usually include:

Repairs and maintenance expenses
HVAC and other utilities
Property tax and other fees
Salary of property staff such as janitors and security services.
Cost of new amenities

To cover these costs and fairly divide them among your tenants, you need to follow these tips for CAM reconciliation.

Budget for your CAM

A CAM reconciliation starts with budgeting. One of the best ways to get a budget estimate is to look at the previous year's reconciliations. Or, if your property is new, you can also do a thorough expense review. This step is essential to avoid missing any expenses. If you detect any errors after submitting the report, then changing it would be difficult.

Apart from the usual expenses, your CAM reconciliation should also include pro-rata shares that have changed during the term.

Calculate your occupancy

One of the typical mistakes in CAM reconciliations is calculating the expenses by considering 100% occupancy. Some costs like security services and amenities might not change depending on the number of tenants. But others like water, electricity, and janitorial services will vary with occupancy. You need to also consider the number of days a tenant has stayed on your property. Consider a tenant who has signed the lease in March. It would be unfair if they had to pay expenses for the whole year. In this case, you need to exclude the first two months of the year for that tenant's expenses.

Document all changes

It is not uncommon for property managers to exclude minor repairs and maintenance from their CAM reconciliations. But eventually, these charges add up as discrepancies in your final report. To avoid this, document every change you have made to the properties, and add this to your CAM reconciliation.

Include property management fees

Tenants are also liable to pay a monthly fee to their property manager. Depending on the number of units, property managers can charge anywhere between 4% to 12% of the monthly rent.

Ensure timely invoices

If you want to ensure you are paid on time, then you also need to send timely invoices to tenants. Your invoices should reflect the various expenses to ensure transparency. Make sure that you follow up and collect the fees within the due date. Timely payments make reconciliations easier and help avoid discrepancies.

Obtain all third-party information

Third-party information like bills from insurance and janitorial service providers and reports from utility companies are all required to make the CAM reconciliation more accurate. Obtain any such information to make sure your reconciliation process can finish on time. Keep track of all missing information as it is easy to miss something small, especially if you handle multiple properties.

Review the reconciliation

Verifying your ledger can be time-consuming. But it is also crucial to avoid any errors in the reconciliation. You can start by comparing your reconciliation report to the previous year's reports. This highlights any major mistakes, especially if the costs have a drastic difference.

Next, you also need to check if the details mentioned in the reconciliations reflect in the actual leases. Make sure you are not charging the tenant something, not on the lease.

Also, check for any missing entries or unpaid invoices from tenants and vendors.

Use property management software

Property management software has many features you can use to make CAM reconciliations easier. You can keep track of the expenses, save invoices and payment details, and communicate with your tenants.

For example, Yardi Breeze has specific tools to help with CAM reconciliations. It allows you to set up tenant details for all properties and create payables for the same. It also lets you run a reconciliation by creating balancing sheets for each property. You can reach out to a Yardi consultant to know more about its features.

Outsource your CAM reconciliation

As a property manager, you will have many tasks that require your attention. If you cannot handle CAM reconciliations or want an expert to take care of them, you can reach out to an outsourcing company.

Simplify CAM reconciliation with Assetsoft

CAM reconciliations have little room for error. At Assetsoft, we help clients simplify their CAM reconciliation processes. Our team of experts understands the legal and functional aspects of common area maintenance. By outsourcing your CAM reconciliations to us, you can maintain common areas better while also reducing the overall fee. With platforms like Yardi and MRI, we make sure that the reconciliations are justified and the expenses are fairly divided.

To outsource your leasing processes, reach out to Assetsoft!