Like anything, prevention is always better than cure, so there are some basic tips for Landlords to practice when looking for the ‘right’ tenants to lease their property helping to minimise future potential problems, Wealth Buy Property explains:
- Ask for references and check with previous landlords
- Make use of available services such as Tenancy Information New Zealand
- Google them by name
- Carry out credit checks on your prospective tenants
- Check for any Tenancy Tribunal orders against them at www.tenancytribunal.govt.nz
- Ask for four weeks Bond as a safe guard
- Have adequate Insurance cover
- Keep a close eye on their rental payments – especially around the holiday season
- Be decisive and act promptly when something is awry
- Keep in regular contact and build a warm professional relationship with your tenant
The first step is to check whether the prospective tenant is actually who they say they are, they are in a strong position to pay and that they don’t have defaults recorded against them.
Wealth Buy Property: Credit Checks
Credit checks are a great way to do this and to get an insight into the reliability of payments from your prospective tenant – they offer information such as:
- Basic identification details
- A full history/listing of credit applications (whether approved or not)
- Any negative events such as bankruptcies, court judgements, defaults to collection agencies etc
(Veda Advantage offers a service that will alert landlords by email, fax or post should any payments defaults appear on a tenant’s credit file as well as a VedaScore Plus report that provides a numerical score/rating on a prospective tenant’s credit worthiness).
Make the time in selection of your tenants to do your homework – don’t panic and rent it to somebody you wouldn’t normally rent it to – if you choose the right tenant you won’t have too many (if any) problems.
Create a warm but professional relationship with your tenant and let them know your expectations so that they have a clear indication of where they stand and what will happen if they miss a payment etc – a zero tolerance to rent arrears is always a good policy.
These basic steps are and tools provided by Wealth Buy Property to help mitigate risk and protect your revenue.
For more information or a FREE INTERVIEW contact the team at Wealth Buy Property today.
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