L1 LL Tenant and Manager roles and relationships Flashcards
What are the important forms of negotiation?
o Conduct
o Subject to contract
o Without prejudice
How is Conduct used during negotiations?
Obtain settlement of lease renewal with appropriate terms avoiding uncertainty and cost of a DR process
Successful negotiations should leave both parties achieving a fair settlement and the relationship = maintained
Professional advisers may be acting as agents for their clients, seeking to obtain most favourable settlement for their client
What is subject to contract?
Expression = widely misused within negotiations
An offer made subject to contract = made subject to other terms and conditions being agreed
An offer made subject to contact = not made without prejudice unless there is a clear indication that the offer carries this protection
What is without prejudice?
In effort to reach negotiated settlement, offers and concessions = made without prejudice to surveyor’s right to withdraw those offers and concessions during any third-party proceedings
Offer made on a ‘without prejudice’ basis may not be referred to by either party in those proceedings
Correspondence marked with ‘without prejudice’ to be clear
What should the property manager do to maintain the relationship with the landlord?
Critical that the property manager seeks to:
- develop a positive relationship with landlord
- understands the landlord’s objectives and approach
- establishes a format and frequency for reporting
- in BTR, understand their business proposition and service offering to the market
What can the property manager do to ensure a good relationship with the tenant?
Ensure occupiers know who the property manager is and how to contact them
Seek regular contact with each occupier
Provide emergency contact details for out of hours incidents e.g. a helpdesk facility / in house operation
Comply with communication and consultation provisions in RICS CoP, Service charge residential management code (2016)
System in place to ensure leases = dealt with properly and efficiently, making recommendations to the landlord, ensuring compliancy with LTAs
Act within appropriate time limits when responding to a tenant’s application, as this can be used in Court
How can a landlord ensure effective communication?
Ascertain what landlord and tenant want out of the deal
Be straightforward, be clear; if a complaint /request is made, reflect back to check your understanding of issue, always take notes and confirm in writing to other party
Keep in touch; if account manager = assigned the property to manage, ensure they are primary contact for landlord and tenant. This builds trust and good relationships.
What are the characteristics of a good agent?
diplomatic; calm; organised; personable; empathetic; and transparent
During pre-tenancy negotiation, what measures should be check / put in place?
Ensure agent = competent and a member of an approved regulatory body to adequately protect and act for owner’s best interests
Agents should act in accordance with the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 to ensure the agent does not fall foul of the law
Agent should establish relationship with the tenant to weed out the respectful, communicative tenants from the downright dishonest and unreliable
What are the different types of landlord?
Absentee landlord - ‘hands-off’ approach, may develop unemotional view and expect monthly rental income
Overseas landlord - need to be aware of HMRC’s non-resident landlord tax regime as rent may be tax deductible
Inexperienced / first-time landlord – may be naïve
Professional landlord = 1/more individuals / company – 2 types;
- Hands-on = effective management strategy
- Hands-off = distant / may appoint asset manager
What are the different types of tenant?
o Sharers and changing tenants
o Licensees of companies
o Single household tenants
o Passionate or indifferent tenants
What should you consider with sharers and changing tenants?
Before agreeing to multiple occupants, check to see if subject to additional licensing
If a property is let out by room with communal facilities, each room = individual tenancy agreement
Up to agent to manage these tenants if conflicts arise (e.g. dirty dishes, anti-social behaviour etc)
Sharers on joint tenancies - commonly students / group of friends. All named persons = jointly and severally liable clause?
Officially will be one Lead Tenant
Change of tenant - common practice = Deed of Assignment to assign rights and responsibilities to new tenant(s)
Guarantors - entirely up to agent and landlord if they wish to seek a guarantor
What should you consider with Licensees of companies?
Landlord’s relationship will be with the company / tenant’s representative agent
Landlord should be aware the licensee may not be authorised by their employer to deal with legal and contractual matters
Possibility company may go into liquidation / administration - may need to make application to Companies House / a court to ensure performance of agreement /a formal deed of surrender to end tenancy
What should you consider with Single household tenants? (RESIDENTIAL)
Where tenants = in one house, landlord-tenant relationship = likely to be more personal than with other types of tenancy
What should you consider with Passionate or indifferent tenants? (RESIDENTIAL)
Passionate tenants - emotional tenant may be more demanding and could be endless list of demands. Landlord needs to establish limits of their obligations, otherwise resources may become exhausted
Indifferent tenants – may be less demanding but relationship = affected if indifference leads to
missing / tardy rent payments / failing to report maintenance matters
How can the landlord / agent set expectations via the tenancy agreement? (RESIDENTIAL)
Should state;
- Rent due date and method of payment (BACS /cash)
- Start and end date of the tenancy
- Tenant’s rights to have notice before entry
- Landlord’s rights to carry out repairs
- Any additional non-standard clauses i.e allowing pets
How can the landlord / agent set expectations via ongoing communication? (RESIDENTIAL)
Ongoing communication - regarding;
- inspections;
- end of tenancy protocol;
- issues arising from terms of tenancy e.g. antisocial behaviour, contravening any clauses, etc;
- repairs / maintenance updates
What should be considered with repairs?
October 2015 - government introducedDeregulation Act 2015preventing landlords from issuing s21 notice if there are reported outstanding repairs on property
Therefore, is important to document and be proactive if property has issues requiring attention
Reference to LTA 1985 SECTION 2
How can repairs be reported?
Have method for tenant to report repairs, including how to report out-of- hours emergencies
Advise tenants on what = emergency, how repair issues = categorised and max estimated attendance / repair time
To try minimise reactive repairs, provide tenants with property manual / handbook to include details of:
- how to report repair issues
- things to check if a fault is suspected
- what info to provide when fault = reported; e.g. serial numbers / photographs
- what is classed an emergency
- what to do in event of emergency
- what to do if they smell gas; etc.
Produce a repair prioritisation tool / matrix – low – urgent in terms of severity and response time, description etc.
Can be proactive in maintenance via periodic and regular maintenance checks
What is a property manager?
company or individual employed to manage an interest in real estate on behalf of the owner of the interest.
What about the relationship between the property manager and the landlord?
The relationship between manager and client will be based on terms of engagement or a contract, which will determine the rights and duties of both parties
