Deciding to rent your property out, you don't plan to end up with lots of troubles, vacant units, and great loss, do you? On the contrary, you pursue the following targets taken in a single bunch:
Close-to-100% unit occupation rate;
Trouble-free tenants;
High rental yield.
Of course, all these results couldn't be taken for granted. In contrast, it is your housing practice that may serve you right or wrong in your attempts to achieve these results.
How to become a successful landlord?
Being a successful landlord is not rocket science. Still, it has some peculiarities you need to take into account. Familiar with these facets, you will be able to avoid mistakes and increase your chances of success.
Document everything
Documenting is essential in the rental business. Here are some examples of things to be documented:
Date and sum of rental payments;
Move-in and move-out check out;
Date, time, and the essence of your tenant's requests;
Date, time, essence, and cost of actions taken;
List of damages and your expenses to repair it.
Why do you need this paperwork? First, it supplies you with details about every occasion, every action taken and every dirham spent. Second, it provides strong evidences in case of any rental disputes.
Have an enforceable lease
Never rent your property out under a verbal agreement. In other words, a written tenancy contract is a must. Moreover, in Dubai, you must register your long-term lease with EJARI.
Such an enforceable lease has many means to protect your rights. First, drawn correctly, it contains clauses that prescribe tenant's responsibilities including their rental payment obligations. Second, in case of rental disputes, it enables you to apply for the Rental Dispute Center to resolve them.
Get the right insurance
No one is guaranteed he will not face his property damaged during the lease. Your tenants could break your unit, furniture, or appliances. Burglars could steal your chattels. At last, you could have to accommodate your tenants temporarily in a hotel, for example, due to emergency.
The scale of your expenses could be disastrous and burn a deep hole into your pocket. However, you can make the consequences less disruptive for your budget. The key here is to insure your property. Thus, you will be entitled to claim the company to compensate for your expenses.
Weed out bad tenants
Good tenants are real. Unfortunately, bad tenants also exist and they bring many troubles:
Delayed rental payments;
Bounced cheques;
Violent and rude behavior.
Therefore, you need to weed out bad tenants before you enter into a lease. First, analyze your potential tenants when talking to them. Second, request their rental and legal history. At last, ask for proof of their employment status and income.
At BSO, we thoroughly screen each and every potential tenant as our goal is not just to find a tenant but to find a good one.
Find out the right rental
Pricing is the cornerstone of any business including the rental one. So, do your due diligence to find out the right rental.
If you charge too high for the unit of a similar state and area, you hardly ever find a tenant. Therefore, your unit would remain vacant most of the time. In other words, its occupation rent would tend to zero, as well as your rental yield.
If you fix the rent that is too low, you would not have any difficulties in finding a tenant. Thus, the occupation rate would reach the desired close-to-100% ratio. However, your rental yield would be lower than it could be. In other words, you would suffer a lost profit.
Ask a lawyer to review a lease
A tenancy agreement is unified in Dubai. Nevertheless, it is still worth to ask a lawyer to review the contract every time you are going to lease your property to a new tenant. Besides, a lease review also makes sense if you are going to renew your tenancy contract. This way you can be sure of its consistency with the current legislation of Dubai and upgrade the contract clauses accordingly.
Get professional help
Here we are speaking about not only lawyer assistance we discussed above but professional help in many other fields as well:
Finding tenants – a letting agency;
Repairing and maintenance tasks – an engineering and plumbing company;
Cleaning the property after move-out and preparing for the next move-in – a cleaning agency.
Even if you are Jack-of-all-trades, professional help will significantly improve your landlord experience. If you are not, professional help is a must.
Main rule. Competent management company – a happy landlord
Fortunately, you have a wonderful opportunity to enjoy all the aforementioned services by applying just to one company, a real estate management company. With a competent management company, you will not have any worries related to the lease and your landlord responsibilities. For example, at BSO, we provide the complete range of services while keeping you informed about every action taken and every dirham spent.
We are sure you have other things to do instead of getting bored with managing your rental assets. So, sign a real estate management contract with us and leave us to perform our task at the top-notch level.
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