Today, I would like to share Mr Li’s story with you – I am very honoured to have helped him out of a major problem with his rental property.

Mr Li purchased a few investment properties on the North Shore of Auckland which he was self  managing. Things were working well until her received a call from one of this tenant, a Mr D, about the deck at the property he was renting. It was in bad shape and really needed some work.  Mr D said he is a handyman and he said he could replace the deck for the landlord at the cost of $3,000. These agreements were all verbal. The landlord agreed and few weeks later he went to the property to check on the deck. He found that the workmanship was really substandard and the deck needed to be redone. The job was quoted at $3,500 including material for the job. The landlord refused to pay the tenant due to poor workmanship, and the tenant stopped paying rent.

When Mr Li made contact with us, the rent arrears had escalated to $4,500. Uno represented Mr Li and went to meet with the tenant Mr D. It turns out Mr D was not totally unreasonable and he was mainly angry at the fact that Mr Li kept dropping by to the property many times without any notice to check on the “progress” and he felt he had no privacy. That is why when Mr Li started accusing him for the bad job, both parties got really upset and emotional. Uno managed to convince the tenant to first pay up the rent in arrears. We got the deck replaced rebuilt at $2,500 without buying any new material and then convinced the landlord to cover the cost of material of $1,000 for Mr D. Everyone was happy.

If this case went to tribunal, the tenant would have been evicted, the rent arrears would have been paid off over a long period, the owner fined for a break of the tenant’s quiet enjoyment and the property would have been vacant for a period of time. It is very important to understand here that landlords must only use qualified tradesmen to do repair and maintenance. Hiring a professional property manager who has the right contacts, attitude and skill will make your property investment run much smoother.

Again, I have put together a quick survey which asks this important question first: Do you have what it takes to manage your own rental property? It is a 5 quick question form to evaluate if you have the time and expertise to manage your own rental property. Maybe it’s time to call me on 0275599296 to discuss your other options.

To Your Success,

Monica_Chen

Monica Signature

Founder and Managing Director of Uno Property Management