Finding a competent and trustworthy agent to manage your rental property is becoming increasingly important due to the work involved in making it safe and successful.

Lanice Steward, MD of Anne Porter Knight Frank, gives a few tips on how to vet the credentials of a rental agent.

Professional agents, she said:

- have links to reputable credit agencies and know within minutes if the tenant has failed to pay any outstanding debts;

- know how to get references from previous landlords and to avoid being bamboozled by bogus references. If these references are denied, the agent will refuse to accept the tenant;

- have a database of reputable potential tenants, many already vetted who are looking for properties in their areas;

- have proven rental collection systems which give a "warning light" as soon as non-payment crops up. They also know how to pressurise a difficult tenant who is not paying. Furthermore, being a non-involved third party, they usually operate without the emotional strain that the landlord undergoes in such a situation;

- check on the condition of the premises regularly through formal and informal visits;

- have tried and tested electricians, plumbers and handymen on hand to assist when problems crop us, thereby avoiding the exorbitant prices often charged when tenants appoint their own servicemen; and

- know when and how to start an eviction process and how to get through it as fast as possible despite today's tenant protective legislation.

A professional agent, said Steward, will always take photographs of all defects in the property prior to occupation and will also list the defects in the initial lease agreement – which will be more comprehensive than that of the tandard "stationer's" version. These lists and checks, said Steward, are essential when claiming on the tenant's one- or two-month deposit which will have been paid upfront, not to the owner, but into the agent's interest accruing trust fund.

Two final tips from Steward :

- whatever the owner does or does not do, he should ensure that his property is always spick and span.

"Good looking properties attract good tenants. Poorly maintained properties attract bad tenants"; and

- he should be especially wary of the high-flyer who apparently has no difficulty in paying a big rent and accepts it without demure. It is this type of tenant, said Steward, who all too often is the first to default.

www.property24.co.za

14/01/2009