The past year has without a doubt caused strain on many landlord-tenant relationships. Now with lockdown easing, people going back to work, and ‘normal’ life resuming, there are still likely to be some on-going impacts to these relationships.
We have outlined some of the impacts that the pandemic has had on these relationships and how they might look in the future.
Deposit flexibility
Many people simply may not have the deposits required in order to secure a home due to being unemployed or furloughed during the pandemic. It would therefore be beneficial for landlords to offer flexible arrangements such as a reduced deposit or no deposit but with higher monthly rental payments.
Existing tenants flexibility
If you have good tenants, it is important for landlords do their best to keep them. With furlough schemes coming to an end soon, more and more people may find themselves without employment. Landlords should communicate openly with their tenants regularly, if they can afford to be more flexible, tenants need to know.
Property viewings
Landlords need to invest in being able to offer flexible viewing opportunities for future tenants, especially for those not living in the city where they are planning to move too or if their working hours do not easily allow for physical viewings.
Pre-recorded video tours allow tenants to easily view properties in their own time. These tours will also give future tenants a much better picture of the property when compared to simply looking at property images, eliminating unnecessary viewings that take up time for both.
Online operations
Landlords who can move all their operations online will be at a huge advantage. Tenants will now expect to be able to conduct most of the process online rather than in-person meetings. Paperwork can also be completed online such as electronic signatures, a much quicker way to get contracts signed than waiting for a paper copy.
The landlord-tenant relationship coming out of the pandemic is ultimately going to be more strained due to both sides financial uncertainty.
In the long term however, this period will have created more flexibility in the rental sector, with a greater online focus, which can benefit both landlords and tenants.