A Routine Inspection Should Not Be Routine

As a young uni student, I vividly remember the day my rental unit suddenly began having troubles with the toilet.

I didn’t know what to do.

Thankfully, my property inspection was due, so it was the perfect opportunity to point out the problem with the plumbing and let my property manager see for herself.

To assist, I placed a polite explanatory note on the floor at my front entry (so she couldn’t miss it).

I came home from uni that afternoon to find the note sitting untouched.

It instantly told me that my unit hadn’t been inspected.

Toilet woes aside, this excited me because I took it as a sign the real estate company trusted me and felt that I didn’t need to be “checked up on” constantly.

I don’t think like that anymore.

As the owner of a real estate business (and as a landlord myself), I am horrified to think back to that day and realise that a property manager couldn’t be bothered to do their job.

Worse still, the property owner  would have been told that everything was “perfect” with their rental investment and they would have been none the wiser.

Now that I’m in the industry, I hear incredible stories of gross neglect and mismanagement.

One that rocked me was where a tenant had been asked to take photos of their rental property themselves and these were then sent on to the unsuspecting owner as an example of a successfully completed inspection.

That is appalling.
And it is something that will never happen at The Real Estate People for a few good reasons:
a) We’ve got a proven structure of checks and balances that would never allow something like that to take place
b) I know my property managers would never do that because they have a great work ethic and a respectful, caring relationship with our landlords and tenants.

If you’re getting anything less, you should have a strong word to your real estate agency.