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.
#bo’ness #boness #property #buytolet #realestate
#ownermanagedbusiness #retirement #retirementplanning #energyefficiency
#privaterentedsector #prs #privaterentedsector
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