As the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic becomes more serious here in Australia the government is continuing to increase its directive towards minimising personal contact, avoiding unnecessary travel and group interactions… Well as a property manager this is a major part of our work… So how do we manage if things continue to escalate here in Australia?
At Property North Agency we take the wellbeing of our staff, tenants and landlords seriously. We also want to make sure we can continue to offer the same high level of service we have become renowned for…
So what are the areas we might see change?
Video walk-through Open Inspections:
As isolation and avoiding group interactions become a government directive, how do we show properties available for rent?
This poses an issue for both the groups wishing to see the property and also any existing tenants that might be concerned about have multiple strangers through their home before they have moved out.
To ensure we can efficiently lease out the property and minimise vacancy we have invested in video equipment to take smooth detailed walk-through videos of the available property. This means minimising group interactions for both the viewers and current occupants of the property.
NSW Fair Trading has deemed video inspections adequate for applicants. (In NSW all applicants must have viewed the property before their application can be accepted) We have been using this method for some time with our international and interstate applicants.
Routine Inspections:
For the time being, we are going to postpone all routine inspections for a few weeks. Again to avoid unnecessary interaction and exposure for both property manager and tenants.
Should the government continue to give directives to minimise this contact we will then arrange facetime or video inspections where the tenant can walk us through the property and be given direction for any particular areas by the property manager. This will allow us to continue to keep an eye on the property and manage any follow-up required.
Cleaning between tenancies:
Something that people may be concerned about is contracting Covid19 from unclean areas, appliances or bathrooms.
The World Health Organisation has stated that the virus does not last for long periods on surfaces. It has also explained that general disinfectants and bleach are more than appropriate to kill the virus on surfaces.
Day to day management and systems:
Luckily for us, we use a fantastic cloud-based management system that will allow us to continue managing all facets of property management anywhere from our laptops. So should we need to work outside of the office or self-isolate, we will have absolutely no problem continuing to manage our portfolio of properties.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with your property manager.
