Recently I met Mr. William after a long time. He was my school mate. In fact he came to seek some advice about his dispute with the leasing agent as a renter. I really found that my friend is mostly ignorant about the responsibilities as a renter. Actually he thought that all the maintenance of the rented house would be done by the leasing agent and the maintenance staff.
I politely requested him to read the rental agreements on which he has signed. I asked him to read twice the agreement to get familiarization with the terms and conditions. I told him in clear terms that as a renter he has well defined responsibilities and the leasing agent as well have responsibilities in an apartment which is rented out.
Now let us see what the renter responsibilities are.
It is your responsibility as a renter to maintain the apartment and the surrounding area, including the interior area, the deck or patio portions. Keeping cleanliness of the surroundings and the interior are the major responsibilities. Also some minor items like replacement of light bulbs, cleaning of clogged toilets and keeping tidy the walls and floors are also need to be done by renter.
Renter is not supposed to do any alterations in the home for his convenience. Also he should not take up activities like painting, repairs of attached appliances or any portion of the apartment structure. If you find difficulty in doing minor repairs, you can get the support of the maintenance staff.
Societal responsibility of the renter includes keeping the public area clean and tidy and also you should not do any harm to the public properties. Also see that you are not indulging in littering, vandalism and also make sure that you are not failing to show common courtesy to other tenants in the apartments.
Failing to do the duties as a renter, you will be inviting fines or other penalties under the rental agreement.
What are the responsibilities of the leasing agents?
As per the rental agreement, the leasing agents will be responsible for all kinds of major repairs. These can include painting, maintenance of the plumbing pipes, structural repairs, repairing the home appliances which started malfunctioning and correcting any failure of electrical systems.
The maintenance staff and the leasing agent need to interfere if the tenant faces difficulties in using public utilities. These can include the unavailability of heat or hot water to the apartment. The maintenance of the common areas, including the landscaped lawns and walkways, are the responsibility of the leasing agents. Maintenance staff should keep the whole area neat, clean and tidy.
If the renter and leasing agent know their responsibilities, then there will not be any chance of dispute among them.
Leasing agents will always give out cards to customers. That is standard procedure in most cases. What if your leasing agents could make their business cards special? One way to do that is to customize the backs of the cards.
There are little postage stamp sized pictures that you can have made and put on the backs of the cards. These will impress the customer in such a way that they will want to keep them. They are more than just a name and contact information on a card. This is something personal.
Another idea for the leasing agent is to put their own mission statement on the card as well. Then, when the customer leaves, the leasing agent can take the time to personalize a floor plan drawing by writing them a heartfelt note. They may go away feeling that you have singled them out for special attention.
It is important that customers have a feeling of personally knowing the leasing agent. One way to do this is to use a section of your webpage. You can put an audio section on it where the customer can hear the voices of the staff inviting them to the property. Putting a voice with a face fosters trust.
You can personalize the apartment or condo with monogrammed linens. You can also get things like coffee mugs with your name on them. Anything that will produce a memory point with the customer is beneficial.
The leasing agents can be remembered by the clothing they wear. Every time they see a person wearing a certain type or color of clothing, they are working as a leasing agent for your property. That sparks recognition.
The customer will definitely remember their leasing agent if a strange package arrives at the door from them. It might be anything that you can use to drive home your message. For example, you could send a valentine heart with the message, ?We heartily invite you to come back and rent with us.?
The agent can distinguish him-/herself by using the telephone. People like to receive friendly calls. It might just be a call saying that the leasing agent invites them to come to your property before they go to any others.
If this sticks in their minds, it can have an enormous effect on the number of people who will rent. By seeing your place first, they judge every other place by yours. This gives you a definite advantage.
The leasing agent can put in an effort to make a good and lasting impression. When customers have a warm feeling towards the leasing agent, they will feel more comfortable about visiting your property. They will also feel a sense of trust in that agent when leasing that condo or apartment. It really makes a huge difference.
Both Prudence Wong & David Lindahl are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Prudence Wong has sinced written about articles on various topics from Real Estate, Foreclosure Help and Real Estate. Prue and her 1-of-a-kind site at (where else?)helps you. Prudence Wong's top article generates over 4090000 views. to your Favourites.
David Lindahl has sinced written about articles on various topics from Real Estate, Investments. David Lindahl, also known as the ?Apartment King? has been successfully investing in single family homes and apartments for the last 10 years. David currently owns over 3,200 units aroundthis country. David regularly shares his secrets and experience on t. David Lindahl's top article generates over 33100 views. to your Favourites.