Common Property Management Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

Common property management mistakes can occur in all kinds of ways, and an owner might be shocked to find that such mistakes might be committed unknowingly. What might be worse news for an owner is that such mistakes could be avoided.

While it may go without saying that relevant checks are essential before accepting a tenant, regular inspections on the property might prove crucial in relation to accidental damage, willful damage and maintenance issues. Although insurance might be available, the fine print might reveal that only events such as fire and malicious damage, not accidental damage, are covered. Further, insurance might only effectively cover actions by visitors to a property and not any actions taken by the actual tenant. Indeed, items such as broken glass might sometimes even require the checking a separate box on an insurance form, and the insured might discover too late that they neglected to check it.

Further, deferring maintenance can truly become a problem for a property manager. Constantly dissatisfied tenants may lead to high vacancy rates for a property, and need of repair might even be used as a bargaining tool to demand cheaper rent. Hiring unskilled workers to perform repairs may result in further expense if fixing inferior work becomes necessary. If appropriate insurance is not in place when hiring unskilled workers, those workers might not be covered if they were to sustain an injury on the owner’s property. Sometimes an owner will try to do the necessary repairs or maintenance themselves. This is fine but large maintenance jobs taking more than a few days to complete can result in lost rent revenue which might even outweigh the money they saved on labor. Worse yet any work performed might in fact not meet current building codes and requirements.

Keeping up with all city, county, or state ordinances related to property management, including tenancy law, may be crucial but time consuming for an individual. For example, an owner will need to know grounds for eviction, and what is and is not a prosecutable offence by a tenant. An owner will also need to find time and money to take legal action and to further attend court should such action be necessary.

However, hiring a property management company like Real Property Management might reduce the likelihood of common property management mistakes occurring. They have best practices checklists and their advice regarding everything for which insurance is relevant to avoiding vacancy rates might just prove to be invaluable. The can help owners find fully licensed and insured contractors to perform quality work at affordable prices, in addition to rent collection and breach of tenancy law, which is simply part of their working day for their valued clients.