What is the relationship between your tenant? Do you consider them as a friend? You should consider this very thoroughly and even more so if you are letting out your property privately without employing agents. When renting homes to tenants it can be really easy to become too connected with your tenant, which on one hand you think is fine and a right idea. Take care not to be misled by the view that if you are friendly with your tenant that they will pay their money promptly and take care of your house better. But what happens if they turn more and more friendly? What do you do if they start inviting you to come over? What if they have a party and send you an invitation? Are you aware of what you are going to say to your tenant? Will you accept the party invitation? How will you find being in your home at the same time as a social gathering? It is always good to have a festivity invitation, especially for the lady landlords, who love to get dressed up in their favourite womens evening dresses. Well have you also considered of what could materialise in the future if things don’t go quite as expected. Your friendly tenant possibly could begin paying their money later. How do you think the tenant, who may conceive themselves as your friend now, will feel if you wish to sell the property or ask for the property returned and have to issue them eviction notices? How are you going to feel and what is your mind going to let you do as now these tenants are not only your tenants, but they have now become your friends. Are you going to be more understanding and softer if this new friendly tenant starts paying tardily and missing payments or are you going to deal with them in just the same way? When the friendship started, did you think about these circumstances? It is probably more likely that you guessed becoming friendly was more of an advantage and may shield you from some of these occurrences, but that is not always the case. But this is an crucial view you have to think about and that in being a property investor and renting your properties out is an occupation and just like all other business owners you have to make certain that you are capable of running your company productively and advantageously. You need to ascertain that you maintain your relationships with your tenants in such a way that you do not become too friendly and that you are still capable to sustain a tenant/landlord relationship. This doesn’t imply you cannot be nice with your tenant, get along well with them and be friendly towards them. However at the same time you will endeavour to keep your interests on a purely professional basis carrying out your duties as a landlord at the same time. Being too sociable with your tenants, visiting as a friend etc can modify the landlord relationship and be the cause of difficulties at a later stage if a position arises. If a troublesome circumstance arises in the future, you could discover that these once was tenants now your friends do not listen and honour your business dealings in the same way, as they view themselves your friends and assume you will handle them differently. If you do associate with a tenant on a certain function as this feels like the decent thing to do, make certain that you do dress properly (ladies wear the rght women’s dresses for the occasion), you behave in a professional manner etc. To get away from any awkward situations, it is always best to make certain that you maintain your relationship with your tenant as a purely business relationship and this could help in the operation of your occupation and not put you in any sticky circumstances.
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