For most people Christmas rolls two of the best annual highlights into one. In New Zealand we get to have the joy of spending time with family around the tree intertwined with the high likelihood of the weather being good enough for the suddenly full house to spill out into the backyard.
Statutory holidays and stunning weather are a perfect recipe for loading the car and heading off to your favourite camping spot. No matter whether you're heading off to your local swim hole or heading overseas for the break please, spare a thought for many of the landlords making sure they are near the phone, too concerned with it ringing to fully let their hair down.
See, while you're off sunning yourself in the sand or experiencing a white Christmas overseas, there are some landlords that know the revelry, strain on the oven, and extra people in their rental property increases the chance of a phone call from a desperate tenant. Here we explore 6 reasons why Christmas can be a tough time for landlords that choose to self-manage their property.
- According to Tenancy Services if something gets damaged in a rental property, or needs repairing, the tenant must tell the landlord (or property manager) straight away no matter how it happened or who caused the damage. A Christmas Backyard cricket session ended in a broken window? The landlord gets the call!
- Not everyone is a great cook and this may result in an unplanned test of the smoke alarms. If they are found to be no longer working and replacing the batteries doesn't fix the issue the tenant must inform the landlord as soon as possible. This can mean a phone call just as Christmas dinner is about to leave the oven!
- Talking of ovens, the fixed appliances in a rental property get a lot more work over the Christmas period than the rest of the year. With the oven full and each hob hard at work while TVs and devices are draining electricity, the house's circuitry may be pushed to its limits. You can guarantee that if the power goes out on Christmas day an urgent response and fix will be expected!
- As the evening progresses and the celebrations continue (especially on New Year's Eve) the likelihood of breakages and damage to the property increase - not to mention a call from the neighbours asking you to tell your tenants to tone down the noise.
- The more the tenants relax the less the self-managed landlord can! If you don't mind limiting yourself to a single beverage just in case the phone rings and you need to fix an urgent plumbing issue then you might be fine, but remember that the holidays mean several days of tenants being in the property when they'd usually be out which increases the chance of something needing your attention.
- Going away becomes a thing of the past as you may need to be nearby to deal with any issues. If you choose to risk it then do you have someone locally you can call upon to help if you need a local representative?
Of course all of this can be avoided and you can have a break over the Christmas period if you choose to work with a property manager. They field the calls and respond to the headaches so you don't have to, meaning you can have full peace of mind over the festive period.
If you'd rather put your feet up over Christmas and not be picking up the phone to a turkey disaster on the day then contact us by clicking the button below and we can chat about giving you your Christmas back.