Businesses are reopening, and many of us are returning to work. There are signs all around us that things are returning to something approaching normal, but there’s still a challenging road ahead for many. For San Antonio area renters and property owners, striking a delicate balance is still just as crucial as it was during the virus’ peak.
Many renters are still struggling to pay rent, even with the facts and figures concerning payments looking positive for April and May. If you’re wondering about your responsibility as a property investor moving into June, it helps to have a skilled, experienced, and understanding San Antonio property management company in your corner.
With that in mind, take advantage of our years of experience for your rental properties: here’s how to lend your renters a hand—while still ensuring that rent gets paid.
A quick foreword: This article is not intended as a substitute for legal advice. If you’re facing a challenge with your renters that requires the skills of a competent attorney or expert San Antonio property management services, reach out to us for more guidance!
Balance Compassion With Realism
- The best thing for you and your renters is to acknowledge that you’re both experiencing hard times, and approach the situation with empathy and compassion.
- Maintaining good landlord-tenant relationships is just as important as ever.
- Keep lines of communication open, and do your best to ensure that your renters feel comfortable reaching out if and when they have a hard time paying rent.
However, that doesn’t mean letting late or missing rent payments go on forever for your homes for rent: at the end of the day, your rental business is just that—a business.
You need revenue in the form of rent to stay afloat, and even if you may be able to extend some leniency, you can’t offer rent forgiveness forever. It’s important that tenants know you understand their concerns—but just as important is that they understand yours.
When you can’t afford to make payments on your mortgage or maintain your San Antonio investment property, everyone loses long-term.
Work With Your Renters as Much as Possible
Collecting some rent is better than collecting no rent from your single-family homes or multi-family properties. With that in mind, try to see your renters as people who would like to pay in full, but simply cannot because they are struggling financially. Most of them, if given the opportunity, will do their best to pay what they owe. Work with them as best you can to reach an arrangement that will allow your tenants to pay what they can for now, and make up the difference later.
However, for most property owners in San Antonio and the surrounding area, this doesn’t mean a rent-free stay. If you have residents who haven’t been laid off or otherwise negatively affected by the novel Coronavirus, they should be expected to continue paying rent as usual. These types of solutions are purely designed to serve renters who are legitimately struggling.
Try to come to an agreement that works for all parties. If you find you’re having difficulty being a negotiator and a landlord, turn to San Antonio property management for advice and guidance.
Document Everything
If you’re going to be creating unique payment plans for various renters, it’s more important than ever to keep up-to-date and accurate records. You need to know who has paid how much, how much is still owed, and keep track of the dates of all payments. Diligent bookkeeping is always important—but now more than ever.
If (like a lot of investors) bookkeeping isn’t your strong suit, feel free to reach out to a San Antonio property management company for assistance. The last thing you want to have to struggle with later is inaccurate or misleading records, as this misstep could cost you.
Make Paying Rent Easier
Speaking of bookkeeping, it will be much easier to keep track of all your payments if you set up a system that allows all your residents to pay their rent online. This also keeps things simple and easy for your renters, which makes it more likely that they will continue making payments. Many property owners moving to this payment method are temporarily waiving online payment fees to further encourage tenants to transition.
Online payments also help your renters feel safer and more secure, avoiding the need for any unnecessary exposure during social distancing. Plus, most online payment platforms encourage tenants to set up automatic payments—which helps ensure all rent payments will continue to be on time.
Evict as a Last Resort Only
Current laws and regulations vary widely—and it can be hard to keep track of your responsibilities as a landlord. Measures have been passed at state and federal levels that give many tenants protection. These include the CARES Act, which has placed a moratorium on evictions through July 24, 2020, and requires 30 days’ notice to be given for all evictions—even after the moratorium runs out. That being said, renter protection in Texas on a state level has already expired, and we’re still watching to see the effect this will have.
Regardless of the current legal complications, evicting a resident is seldom in your best interest. This is especially the case with high-quality renters who have historically been reliable when not in a crisis. On the investor side of things, finding a new renter is infinitely more costly than keeping the renters you have—so it’s best to view evictions as a last resort only.
Choose the Right San Antonio Property Management
Your dedicated San Antonio property management team can ease a lot of the burdens that come with being a landlord during challenging times.
Your property manager will oversee all rent collection, including setting up a simple and easy-to-use system for your tenants to pay online and making quick and reliable direct deposits into your account as the property owner. The right property management team will approach rent collection in a manner that is firm but compassionate.
If you are interested in having your property managed by Real Property Management Campanas, have more questions, or just want to speak to one of our team members, then contact us online or call us directly at (210) 314-1039 today!
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
