Throughout my time in Property Management I have seen a wide array of ways that agents and landlords manage their lease sign up. These range from no more than a few words when the keys are collected to full presentations on what to expect during the tenancy. Neither is technically wrong or right, however more and more agents and landlords are seeing the benefits of taking a bit more time at the lease sign up.
Whilst there is a small chance the tenant you are renting to hasn't rented a property before, there is a fairly high chance they have not rented a property with you before, therefore its getting more important to educate the incoming tenant and set expectations around rental payments, inspections, care for the property, your repairs process, and what will happen as the lease comes to an end.
The more time and detail is spent here, the greater chance it will sink in and make the whole process run smoothly and reduce the chance of issues and especially miscommunication.
The lease sign up appointment need not just be a quick overview of the relevant paperwork, it can be a formal or informal overview of the journey they will take with you. Here are some ideas to improve your process:
- Provide the tenant with a copy of the relevant forms they may need during the tenancy, i.e. repairs request forms, change of sharer forms, vacate forms - or direct the tenant to where they would find these online
- Educate the tenant on using your online tenant portal if your agency or software has one available, they can often find the information they need here, rather than needing to bother you while you are busy
- Prepare a powerpoint presentation for your sign up, so you can ensure nothing is missed or forgotten from some of the examples above.
- Prepare a "Moving in with Us" video, this can be provided to them in advance or they can watch this during the lease sign up, a humerous take on this type of video can be found here
- Outsource your Tenant Sign Up appointment - if you're not comfortable having these meetings, or short on time, have outsourced inspection provider facilitate your lease sign up with the tenant at the property
- Ensure the tenant has allowed enough time to stay through any of the above options, i.e. instead of saying 10.30am for the lease sign up, say 10.30-11.00am.
- Provide a written follow up to the tenant of what was gone through in the appointment, have this ready as a template to send to them following the appointment.
