Summer survival guide for letting agents & property managers
Ah summer. The sound of ice cream vans and the waft of slightly burnt burgers filling the air. Across the lettings market however, the air just might be filled with expletives.
The warmer months can often be the most challenging for letting agents and property managers for all sorts of reasons. Here is ARPM Outsourced Lettings Support’s guide to surviving the summer:-
Hot weather advice – tenants could do with a timely reminder to pay attention to security, especially during hot spells when they’re more likely to leave windows and doors wide open. A note about locking up before they leave the house now might save a few frantic ‘I’ve been burgled’ calls later on. While you’re corresponding with tenants, it might be worth notifying them of a worrying new trend for ‘fake’ post boxes that are cropping up outside properties. Con artists are crudely fixing boxes to walls, hoping to acquire the mail of others so they can commit fraudulent financial crimes, so it’s a case of ‘tenants beware’.
Annual leave – got it covered? – July and August are the peak times for annual leave so make sure you’ve noted down when staff have requested holiday. If there’s an embarrassing clash of days off that leaves you short staffed, it’s not too late to consider an alternative. Rather than make anyone cancel their plans, think about outsourcing lettings and management duties to lighten the load.
Students lets – the end of the academic years marks the mass exodus from lets across the UK, with students going home for the summer and recent graduates moving out altogether. This may mean properties being left empty for extended periods of time. There’s also much to be done to accommodate the new influx of student tenants, so make sure you have the manpower to deal with all student-related issues.
Scuppered by sporting events? – 2016 is the year of the Rio Olympics and the football Euros. Chuck in Wimbledon and you have a trio of sporting events that will dominate the summer. This can prove problematic in and outside the office. Tenants, landlords and staff can become consumed by athletic action and lethargic when it comes to work, so be one step ahead. Why not tune any office screens into the sporting action? It might increase footfall to your branch and stop staff browsing for hours on the internet trying to keep up with results.
Summer ‘sickies’ – we’ve blogged about this recently, with startling evidence that a great deal of hot-weather illness is in fact a lie so staff can enjoy the sun. To counteract this, why not give employees the chance to finish early one day a week or put up extra holiday allowance as a bonus to incentivize staff if they excel or beat targets?
If you’re struggling to meet the demands of lettings this summer, contact ARPM Outsourced Lettings Support. We can explain how outsourcing can help you through the months when staff are either away or distracted.
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