Every landlord has had something go wrong with their tenant, the rental, a vendor the list goes on. How you handle the issue will reveal what kind of landlord you are or the type of business you operate. I will share with you a recent experience and how I handled it.
I offer placement services in addition to full management. I had a very high-end home in Aptos, CA on the golf course. It was owner occupied and they didn’t get out of the property soon enough for us to turn it over before the tenant moved in.
The owner also had a long laundry list of things they wanted done to the property prior to tenant moving in – within 3 days.
In addition we had advertised the property with washer and dryer and owner decided to remove them because they weren’t working properly. I informed the owner they had advertised and should provide the appliances. We decided that we would offer the tenant money towards a used set of washer and dryer and they could get what they wanted.
We informed tenant of the lack of washer/dryer immediately. Well it didn’t sit well with them. Screaming, yelling, why should they have to spend time replacing the appliances, they wouldn’t have rented the house had it not had these appliances etc etc.
One repair the owner wanted to do was stain the deck which is an access point to enter the house. I advised this should be done after the tenant moved in. Well owner went ahead and did this and the day the carpet cleaners arrived they couldn’t get into the property. So they had to go the following day now we are 24 hours away from tenant move in. Owner has friend going in to clean the house and I still have to do the move in report that goes with the lease.
Tenants have asked if they can meet me on move in day at the house at 8:00am. This is an exception to how we do business but in order to accomodate them since they were so upset over the appliances I agreed to meet them. So I am there at 7:00am to do the move in report and make sure the house is clean – well one of the bedrooms (hardwood floors) was not clean. There I am cleaning the house myself with my cleaning supplies from my car – thank goodness I am prepared. Carpets are still damp because it has been less than 24 hours but the good news is there is a washer and dryer in the house!
I meet the tenant tell them the house is clean and they will be really happy there is a washer and dryer in the unit. I give them the keys and leave.
That afternoon I get calls from our emergency answering service from irate tenants who are upset the carpet is damp(they say soaking wet) we get carpet cleaner back and set up fans! They have a melt down and continue to relive the washer/dryer stress even though they now have one. They were threatening lawsuit, etc etc.
From my experience when people are this upset it isn’t about us something personal is going on and we are taking the brunt of it.
So, this is how to handle a situation when things start going south.
- Listen, let them vent, take notes
- Try to calmly explain the situation (hard when you are being personally attached)
- Don’t take comments personally – it is a business try to solve the problem
- Always apologize even if you didn’t do anything wrong – apologize that they didn’t have the smooth move in experience they should have, or that things didn’t happen according to their expectations.
- Ask for their recommendations of what you could have done or could do in the future to avoid this situation from happening again.
- Be open minded enough to consider their ideas
- Implement ideas if it makes sense
- Drop off a small gift and card – again apologizing for the unfortunate circumstances. This is what I did. By they way – they were in a heated arguement when I arrived – so my intuition was correct – not about me.
- If you do make changes to how you do business based upon their recommendations – send another thank you card and inform them of the new business policy in place as a direct result of their feedback. I did this as well.
I have always learned the most and grown personally from the mistakes and trying situations. If life were easy we would never make changes and often for the better. Try to stay positive and always take the high-road.
How you handle adversity is a true reflection of the kind of business person/landlord you want to be.
If you are looking for property mgmt services in Santa Cruz County please visit my website www.PortolaRentals.com
Kathleen
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow. Great post. To remain calm and focused on providing great customer service under those conditions is amazing. True professional you are.
Glad I found your blog.
Kimberly glad you enjoyed the post.
Kathleen