What If The Real Cost Is Not Fixing It?

Maintenance now takes a huge share of a property manager’s workload, and WA contractor shortages are pushing both delays and prices higher. We break down what landlords are legally responsible for, why trusted trade relationships matter, and how proactive systems protect your asset and help keep great tenants longer. 

• Maintenance workload shifting to roughly a third of a PM’s day 
• Contractor scarcity in WA driving unreliability and price jumps 
• Using trusted contractors rather than chasing the cheapest quote 
• Why “kickback” assumptions miss how accountability works 
• How long-term trade relationships create leverage and small favours 
• WA landlord obligation to keep a property in reasonable repair 
• Clear lines between maintenance versus cosmetic condition 
• Why tenants report more issues than owner-occupiers 
• How blame-first thinking hurts tenant trust and reporting 
• Proactive maintenance through audits and reducing repeat call-outs 
• Reframing “upsell” notes as risk management suggestions 
• Tracking depreciation, warranties, and install dates with better systems 
• Maintenance as a major factor in lease renewals and vacancy costs 
• What to ask a property manager about their maintenance process and after-hours system 

If anyone has any questions or anything that they want to troubleshoot or for us to discuss, feel free to send a message through this platform or you can send through a message through our Instagram, SOCO Realty, as well.

www.socorealty.com.au

Transcript

Why Maintenance Dominates The Day

SPEAKER_01 0:00

We are going to continue conversations today around maintenance because maintenance is a very big part of what we do. If you were to if I was to ask you how much time maintenance takes up in a property manager's day, do you reckon it's 50-50 or what do you reckon?

SPEAKER_00 0:17

The way I put it is because it's changed so much over the past few years. I used to look at the PM role as mostly 50-50 of tenants and owners. That's who you're spending your time on. But now handling maintenance, dealing with contractors, finding contractors and chasing them up, I would say it's actually a pretty equal split of a third for each person. So you're spending a third of your time on maintenance, a third of your time on tenancy relations, and a third on owner relations.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Yeah. The maintenance is a big issue at the moment. I'm finding purely because of in WA specifically contractors, and they're so expensive.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

And it's so hard to find someone reliable. Yeah. As soon as you find someone good, they move on and change industries. All of our cleaners in the last five years pretty much realize they could make more money working FIFO in the mines doing the same job of cleaning. So every time you find someone good, you spend time and effort to build that relationship and that rapport, and then move on and change into something else. So it's quite difficult.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Yeah. The to and to give you some examples of changes in pricing over the years you've had, I remember probably only about five years ago having a quote for a new vanity and it was about $750 a quote. Then a couple of years ago, I got a quote for a vanity and it was $1,500. Actually, no, sorry, it was $1,500 about five years ago. And then a couple of years ago when I went to go get a quote, it was $3,000. And then just recently we've had a vanity that had some water damage, and the quote came in at four and a half. So a really big jump in prices. And it does make you wonder have parts gone up, or is it the labour that's gone up, or is it people's behaviour and they just don't really want to work unless it's worth their while? I think it's a bit of everything.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Oh, yeah. Yeah, a mix, but mainly the third. Yeah. There's definitely a few contractors that we've dealt with that you can tell that they just put the prices up with areas that they don't want to do. Yeah. Jobs that just seem too hard. So they, if they're going to do it, they're going to make it really worth their time.

Contractor Shortages And Rising Costs

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Yeah. So much to unpack with maintenance. The first thing I do want to say is that it is not a property manager's job to necessarily find you the cheapest quote. That is not the job. And we're not going to go and spend hours and hours to get the best price possible for you. We are going to use our good, trusted, reasonably priced contractors that we've got on our books. And most property managers should have three, at least three, three to five, where possible, contractors for each industry. So three plumbers, three electricians, three handymen, etc. That would that to me is like good business practice. Would that be fair to say?

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Yeah, absolutely. You need people for different situations. So we have this conversation a lot, especially with our team. Your smaller companies are great. Like we have a lot of contractors that the team have used for more than 10 years, but we've found a lot recently that they're not the ones that we can call on the weekend for emergency maintenance. And again, if we do, they're hiking those prices up. So it really does matter. And I guess that's probably another question that owners should be asking when they are looking at property managers is how many contractors do you have on your books and how are your relationships with them? Do you treat them as a priority?

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Yeah. So I get I one of our pet hates in the industry is when investors suggest that we're getting kickbacks from contractors insert eye roll because it is absolutely not, it's not even heard of, to be honest, like kickbacks from like plumbers and all of that. Like we don't get bonuses from them. We would be very lucky to maybe get a little thank you bottle of wine at the end of the year. Yes, we do get the bottle of wine or a box of chocolates or something like that. But it's it's a really interesting topic because a lot of people say will question why a property manager wants to use a contractor and they think that because that property manager is saying we need to use this contractor, that there is some ultimatum behind it and there's some benefit. I would actually argue that the property manager that you should use the property manager's contractor because if there is a problem, their property manager's got a really good relationship with them. They're more likely to be able to get them to go back to fix something up, to get little favours when they need to, maybe while they're there's something little like a little tiny thing they could sort up, they would do that for you because the contractor wants to maintain a good relationship with the property manager because they want us to keep on giving them work. So when owners think that the people we use are expensive, that's what I say to them. No, they're actually in a way, not I don't want to say they're cheaper, they're actually very reasonable because they have to be accountable to us, otherwise we literally pull all the work. And I think when I was looking at last year, some of our contractors, like some of our contractors, we're paying them $200,000 a year, like in workload. If you piss us off, you lose that.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Yeah, it's so important with those relationships. I really liked the analogy that one of our contractors used last week at the trade education day of frequent flyer miles. Yeah. So this was really interesting. It was one of our cleaners that we had this week, and he explained for a contractor, he's if you use us more, you're getting those frequent flyer miles. If you have higher miles, you get more baggage. So that means if they are at a property and we do need them to tighten a couple of screws that's outside of their scope of work as cleaners, or we need them to pull a couple of the weeds in the garden, but it's not a whole job, so it can wipe that part off the invoice. Yeah. We have those little, we have that existing relationship and we do have, we are allowed to ask those kind of cheeky but necessary questions when we need to, and we know that we can actually count on them. So I thought that was a really good analogy.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

Yeah, absolutely. And it also means that if if a cleaning one's a good example because the tenants sometimes paying for that, and if there's a big argument over it and we have to go to court and we can't pay the bill on time, like yes, it's meant to be an owner's responsibility, but we might have a little bit more pull to say, listen, we're just going to court, can you just hold off for a couple of weeks while we finalise this? And they're going to be not on your case and not in our case as much if we give them lots of work again. It's yeah, those brownie points and those points that you get that are very helpful. So

Why Trusted Trades Beat Cheapest Quotes

SPEAKER_01 6:50

we spoke about in previous episodes about proactive maintenance. And if you didn't listen to that one, then just go back and listen to the podcast prior. But we're going to talk about the responsibilities of maintenance. And this is going to be different state by state, so I do just have to disclose that. And we're talking from a WA point of view. It's actually really annoying, isn't it, that every state has different legislation because it would be so much easier if it was the same across the board. It's like literally one country. Why we can't just have the same. Yeah, it blows my mind that we don't. So we're going to talk from a WA point of view. If you would like to hear from another state's point of view, just feel free to reach out and we will set that up for you. So that's fine. But the first question is under the Residential Tenancies Act, landlords have a legal obligation to maintain the property in a reasonable state of repair. How many investors actually know this and what does it mean practically?

SPEAKER_00 7:48

I wish more of them knew this. Or maybe they know it but they don't quite understand the extent of it. So there's a certain expectation when a tenant moves into the property, as per the legislation, that the owner is actually going to maintain the property. So they can't just leave the leaking tap because they don't have the funds to fix it. They can't leave the leaking roof, the full gutters, like these things have to be actioned because this is their legal responsibility. We sign a lease agreement on their behalf and it clearly outlines their obligations. And I do think that part of this comes down to the education side when landlords are signing up. So for us it's a really big focus with our VDM that we set those clear expectations at the start of what the owner is responsible to maintain. But then on the flip side, we make sure that we're explaining that to the tenants as well. So when they come through a home open, if it's an older house and maybe the paint isn't in great condition, unless they specify in those special conditions on their application, have the property painted as a condition of their lease, then we make sure that it's really clear to them that they're accepting the property as is. That's not maintenance. That's that's upkeep of the property. We're talking about actual leaking taps, electrical issues, things like that. The amount of times that we've had owners say, Oh, can't the tenant just do it themselves? Sometimes you'll get a great tenant that is happy to go to Bunnings and buy a new shower head and change it over for you, but that's not actually their responsibility, and we shouldn't be asking them to cover that because it's your property and you need to make sure that as part of your investment strategy, you're accounting for a maintenance budget.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Yeah. And and we get that, like we get that there are things that it would be just so easy for a tenant just to do. But like you said, it comes down to it's actually legally, they're not obligated to do it. So if they do, it's just a bit of a favour that they're doing. But it shouldn't be seen, it should be seen as a bonus and definitely not as an expectation. I I had this thought to myself because like with maintenance, a lot of landlords might have the thought of in my like personally in my house, I don't actually have a lot of maintenance. And it's like, how do these rental properties have so much maintenance all the time? And my house doesn't. And the analogy I'm going to say is that I've got this shower at the moment and it drips. And so I just tighten it and I have to go in there every night because I can hear it dripping, and I go in and just tighten a little bit more, which I've now learned I probably shouldn't do that. But that's what I do as a homeowner, because I don't want the plumber to come out and charge me 500 bucks to change the shower head. I just keep on tightening it. But if I was a tenant, would I report that? Yeah, I would report that because I can.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

And that is seen as a benefit of renting these days. If people are looking at the pros and cons of renting versus purchasing their own property to live in, one of the benefits as a renter is you're not responsible for things like maintenance and council rates.

WA Landlord Duties Under Tenancy Law

SPEAKER_00 10:45

So that does actually factor into people's decisions these days when they are choosing to continue renting.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Yeah, absolutely. Another one that comes up with maintenance is grouting. And I have this conversation with Brianny from the Grout Guy all the time because I'm like, why don't rental properties always need to have showers re-grouted? I've never re-grouted a shower in my own home ever in my life. And she had a really great answer to that. And that was that tenants are responsible to scrub and clean at routine inspection. So every three months, maybe more often, but every three months they're scrubbing that shower with bleach, which is actually eroding all that grout. When a vacate clean happens, again, that might be every couple of years. There's another very heavy-duty clean, and that's wearing away all the sealant and all of that. And so that makes total sense as well.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

I've never thought of that.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

No, I know. And you can't ask a tenant to only use environmentally friendly vinegar on a shower. Like you can educate, but you can't actually tell them that.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Yeah, and there's also how are we going to then prove?

SPEAKER_01 11:49

And prove, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

That's another thing is that we get this quite often when maintenance is reported, the owners say, How has the tenant broken it? It'll be like a gate latch on the side. And I think owners need to shift their perspective of this like lame game on with their properties. You need to understand if you're buying a property that isn't brand new, that's going to come with maintenance.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

So if you are asking your property manager every single time there's maintenance, what has the tenant done to cause it? That's not a great approach. You need to be looking at it the fact that, okay, that makes sense actually. This property is 20 years old, and I can have a look at the gate and I can see it is pretty old. It's likely that this has just happened. Because as soon as you start taking that approach, it can actually affect the relationship that you have with that tenant. If you're consistently trying to play this blame game, that doesn't make the tenant feel very comfortable in the property. First of all, to renew the lease and continue that relationship, but it also makes them hesitant to report any future maintenance. And that's when you get really big problems that build up over time, like leaks under the sink that damage the vanity, but the tenant doesn't feel comfortable reporting.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

And there's also tenants that don't want to report because they're worried the rent goes up. And we do educate both parties that rent doesn't go up based on the expenditure for the year. I don't care how much maintenance you've got on the property, that's nothing to do with your rent return and what you achieve. I know that you in our office do the annual investor audits and they're a really great opportunity to talk about proactive maintenance, which we've spoken a bit about, and general maintenance. And we find that when when we do these, we do go through the owner transactions and we see whether they've spent a lower, like a little money on maintenance or a lot on maintenance. So do you want to talk about what you are looking for and what we in our office see as a normal limit when it comes to sending out plumbers, electricians, etc.?

SPEAKER_00 13:44

So when I'm going through, I am sharing my screen with the owner as well. So they're looking at exactly what I'm looking at in our system. So the first thing I'm looking for is any red flags with repeat attendances.

Why Tenants Report More Repairs

SPEAKER_00 13:55

So if I'm going through and I can see that we've sent out a plumber three times in this year already, or an electrician three times, to me that's saying, okay, first of all, the property is clearly getting to the point where maybe it might need some renovations in the future because it's we're having this recurring maintenance, but how are we going to switch our approach to be proactive? So the next time, and I recommend that we do this, and I speak to the property manager, we put a note on file to say next time we have a plumbing job that comes through or an electrical job that comes through, we actually make sure that the contractor checks all the other fixtures in the property while they're on site. Some owners can see this as maybe an like an upsell, and I do get that from some owners previously when plumbers have done this without us asking, they're worried that it's an upsell, but it's not, it's us looking after your investment. We're taking that proactive approach and making sure that we're saving you those future call-outs. We're saving the inconvenience to the tenant, and we're also making sure that we're fixing and identifying any other leaks or any other electrical issues before they become a problem down the track.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

The the bunny is the if you can't see me, uh upsell of that plumbers and electricians put on their invoices is such an interesting one because it is everyone perceives it in a different way. And I think that it shouldn't be perceived as an upsell, yet some people still get pretty shitty at seeing it on the invoice. But it is just to, while they're there, they're just taking an extra five minutes to check to see if there's anything else that could be of a benefit. I personally used to have that opinion that it is that it's an upsell. I didn't like it. And and after I got a couple of complaints by owners, I was like, Can you take it off? But my mum actually recently just had an electrician over at her house, and she was a little bit rude, may I add, and I was like, that's my contractor. Can you please be a little bit nicer to them? Because she didn't like paying a call out. She had an issue with a call out. But interesting enough, when that bill came through, the invoice came through, it had all these suggested. It was an earth that needed to be done, upgrade switchboard, and there was something else, aircon service, I think. And it was in there to say, not urgent, but things that your home could benefit from. So I was in my head, I was like, oh my God, she's just gonna whinge about this now. And she actually went, I really liked how they did that. I'm not prepared to do the switchboard just yet, but probably the aircon was a good reminder. And it just, I just I guess as an investor, if you get something like that on an invoice, I don't want you to necessarily go, oh, the agency or the property manager's trying to upsell and we're all trying to take a piece of your bank account. I don't want you to see it like that. I just want you to see why some people would actually see it as a benefit and why we are here trying to manage the risk for your property. And it's only ever a suggestion. If something was mandatory, we would tell you. So don't jump to a negative thought pattern if you see that from your property manager.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

Just it's just the mindset of it. This is one of your biggest assets. Why would you not want to

Proactive Checks Reduce Repeat Call-Outs

SPEAKER_00 17:05

be protecting it? Why would you not want to be maintaining it and caring for it to make sure that it you've got that longevity? Yes. Is you've spent so much money on this property and you want it to be typically you want it to have good return and have good tenants. So you need to come into it and have that mindset of maintenance is a benefit. Like you're contributing in a positive way to your asset. It's not something that is like a burden on you.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Yeah, it's like you don't buy a car and just assume that you never have to replace the tires. You know that they're gonna come up and you don't have a choice.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

And you know that it's gonna need services and as it ages, you understand that there's gonna be things that crop up.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

So why are we not understanding that with houses?

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Yeah. And everything inside a home, everything depreciates. So it totally makes sense that you are going to need to replace everything. If you, as an investor, if you don't actually have a copy of a depreciation report, which is a whole nother episode, but there is what we call a cheat sheet. So just reach out for a cheat sheet, and that's actually a table of depreciation for each thing. So it tells you how long the paint work should last for garage motors, hot water systems. Do you know what? That would actually be quite a good thing to somehow put to owners when they first sign up. So their expectations they know how long things last for.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

Yeah, that's a great idea. I reckon.

unknown 18:29

I'll add that to your list.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

Absolutely. Because that's the a real common thing that we find where where time goes so fast. And the number of phone discussions we've had with clients where we've said, where they said, Oh, I only painted my house a couple of years ago, and you've looked at the records, and it was eight years ago. I get it. Time goes fast. Like we're already four months into the year, but that's very common that people just go, Oh, I felt like I only replaced my hot water system a year ago. No, it was three.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

And I feel like that should also be a part of the onboarding process is going through the property with your uh the BDM or the property manager and letting them know at that point when was the last time it was painted, when was the last time the hot water like you've had the hot water system replaced. Identifying these things means that the property manager can keep those records. And if they have a system like TARPY, it will actually flag when they go to send a work order, hey, this hot water system is already eight years old. So it just gives you that indication. And then it also makes sure that if there are any warranties, that property manager is aware of them. So it saves you a lot of back and forth and it means that if it is under warranty, they can handle that straight away. You're not having to send out a contractor and waste that call out fee just for them to tell you to refer back to the supplier.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Yeah, absolutely. And we're very lucky that we do have some really good programs like TAPI that Marissa mentioned, where you can put in that proactive maintenance and recall those warranties. And to be honest, if you don't, if your property manager doesn't have TARPy, you can do it in the other software, but you'd have to search for it, wouldn't you?

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Yeah, it wouldn't be easy.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

It wouldn't be easy for the property manager. So don't assume that a property manager can easily find all of that information. And I'm gonna I'm gonna be really honest here. Every time there's maintenance, we're not going to open up your managing authority and look at your property detail record to see what was on what was on warranty. Like you that just doesn't happen. It's unreasonable, I think, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Yeah, it doesn't.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

Yeah. So yeah, have knowing that's where knowing that software in the back end is really important. And and like I said, TAP is really good. You can ask questions like maybe you've just replaced the the air cons. You can say, Oh, can you let me know what system you've got to record my warranty? Or is there a place that you can make put an easy record for you and for previous people and just see, even just by prompting that question, even if the property manager doesn't have it, at least that you've asked, and then it might even, like from a property manager's point of view, go, oh, it's actually a really good question. And then maybe that will prompt them to do a system in their office. It's it's how you can work collectively for the collective benefit, you know what I mean, by asking those questions and don't just assume that every property manager has a system to check all the previous invoices every time there's new maintenance. Correct, correct. And that's where the longevity of property managers is super helpful because generally they will remember, oh yeah, I remember we actually replaced that last year. But the truth is that if you've got a rotation of property managers every, even every two years, which is pretty good, they're not gonna, yeah, they're not gonna have that information.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

So

Warranties Depreciation And Better Records

SPEAKER_00 21:40

there's a direct link between how maintenance is handled and whether a tenant renews their lease. What does that relationship look like from inside a property management office?

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Yeah, so sometimes when tenants want to renew their lease, they will, if there is outstanding maintenance, they're going to either use that to negotiate on the rent, on the rent review, or They're going to vacate. So that is where you're at risk. And that's why where the proactive maintenance is super helpful. And doing the right thing because tenants will want to stay in a property that they feel appreciated and comfortable in. Looking at the big picture, doing maintenance when it's requested, not being a pain in the butt when it comes to report to dealing with it, just doing it, and trusting your property manager says you need to do it, that you just do it, is going to definitely be a happy tenant. And therefore, like even if if you just even tap look at all the layers, if your tenant signs up for another lease and stays long term, you're going to be saving money on vacancy periods, letting fees, advertising fees, final inspections, another PCR. I think in total, from a fee point of view, between tenancies, you'll be losing about the equivalent of three weeks rent in fees just by changeover of tenant plus vacancy time. So let's just say that a vacancy properties take a couple of weeks, maybe, to lease at a minimum for changeover, then you are looking at five weeks. If the average property is 700 a week times five weeks, that's three and a half thousand. Is that right? Oh don't get mini-checked, you know. Three and a half thousand. Okay. It's three, it's about three and a half thousand minimum. That's on the conservative side. That's gonna cost you to change over a tenant because a tenant's deciding to leave because you didn't want to deal with a two hundred dollar ant spray.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

And when you have a great tenant, you want to hold on to them.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Because you're also taking the risk. So say you've already taken a property, that great tenant is gonna move on and find somewhere and find a property where they will actually feel looked after and know that the property is well maintained. Yeah. Who's to say that the next tenant that comes in is gonna maintain the property and look after it to the same level that your previous tenant did? So when you do have someone good in there, you want to make sure that they feel appreciated and they feel like they can comfortably report that maintenance and know that it's actually going to get addressed.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Yeah. And then if a tenant does want to stay and they but there's maintenance that's outstanding, it's reasonable that they say, listen, we're going to we don't want to we want to stay, but we're not prepared to sign another lease until this is dealt with. And if it's mandatory maintenance, I tend to agree, I'm happy with that decision.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Yeah, even just negotiating a rent increase. If they are understanding that maybe you're not in the position to spend that money right now, that's okay, but maybe you meet in the middle on increasing the rent instead of charging market rate. Because I can guarantee if you don't negotiate and that tenant leaves, you go to market, you're gonna end up fixing that maintenance anyways.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

You're gonna yeah, you're gonna have to do it with a new tenant. Yeah. New tenant moves in, that's the first time they always yeah, report all the maintenance because there's not a loyalty there. Yeah. They just do it. And it works in both ways because if you've got like if we're renewing a tenant's lease, if a tenant's in arrears or a tenant has got invoices outstanding, we're not gonna commit to signing them for another fixed-term lease because we're enabling that poor behaviour. So just like the tenant doesn't want to enable poor behaviour from a landlord because they're not doing maintenance.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Yeah, it goes both ways.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

It absolutely goes both ways. And it's not that the property manager is taking sites at all. The tenant, the property manager is looking at the big picture, they can see the big picture that by you doing this or just saying yes to something is going to help yeah, the longevity of that good tenant in a property. So you don't property managers, they don't take sites. Like I don't see, I know that people think there's a perception that we do, but we just want to do the right thing by law.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

Our job is the middle end. That's right. 100% we work for the owner, but it's also our responsibility to educate that owner and to make sure they're aware of their legal obligations. Yeah. So when we have conversations and we are telling you you need to get this fixed, that's not us working for the tenant. That's us working in your best interest to say, This is your

Renewals Vacancy Costs And Legal Risk

SPEAKER_00 26:10

legal obligation, you need to address this.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Yeah, and to minimize your risk as a landlord if you don't do it.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Yeah, look, worst case scenario, those tenants can issue a breach notice. So, how's that gonna look if you if you continue to delay maintenance or you just straight out deny it, and then the tenant breaches you and they escalate it to court, you're not gonna win because this is your obligation. So at the end of the day, you're paying us as the professionals, so you want to listen to our professional opinions.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

Yeah. Oh, that's another hole.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

That's another nothing.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

And I guess because I'm if I engage a lawyer, I trust what they're saying because I'm paying them. I'm gonna do exactly what they say. If I hire a business coach, I do whatever they say. I know my relationship with you, I hire you as an operations manager, I let you make the decisions, because why would I not? Otherwise, I wouldn't pay for someone to be in that position. I don't and as an investor, you're paying a property manager. Why are you not taking their advice? Like, why bother paying them? Yes, but keep on paying them. But but like why, but I I don't understand that for me is just such an offensive thing when people don't trust me. Like nothing, nothing will nothing annoys me more, and nothing's gonna get you a termination notice from me more, is someone who doesn't want to take my word or trust what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

At the end of the day, this is what we do all day, every day. We are the experts in this, and you're paying us to give you a service and offer that advice and those recommendations. Yeah, if you don't want to take those recommendations, that's okay. You're more than welcome to manage your property yourself.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

And that's when you'll end up with those breach notes.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Yeah, go find someone else that you trust more than me. Yeah, or trust me. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And last question: if you could give one piece of advice to an investor

Questions To Ask A New Manager

SPEAKER_01 28:00

about choosing a property manager in relation to the maintenance. Let actually let's reframe that a little bit. Let's reframe what would be a good question for an investor to ask a property manager around like maintenance when they are looking at at hiring someone? Would it be in regards to the number of contractors or relationships or it's a bit of everything?

SPEAKER_00 28:29

Like I would probably phrase it as can you run me through your process with maintenance?

SPEAKER_02 28:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

Because that would then cover what systems they're using. Do they have their preferred trades? Are they giving you that expectation of three quotes for every job? But going through and just a broad question of what is your maintenance process and procedure, I think that should that should cover everything. And then it again, it's setting those expectations from the start. So you understand what they're offering, they can feel comfortable that you understand your obligations as well.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

Probably as well. I wonder whether asking them what their after-hours emergency process is in the office, not because you want to note what it is, but it would show you if there is a process and if the office has processes.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

Which would be a good one. And there's no right or wrong, I don't think, in it. Like our office, emergent, we've got a system where the emergency comes through to me, but if the person calls directly to the property manager, they'll deal with it. If the property manager's busy, they know they've got permission to text me and say, Ash, I'm out at a foot footy and can you deal with this? That's fine. What's probably not great is if there is no system and that person, if your tenant does have an emergency and they can't get hold of anyone, that would probably be a problem because there could be more damage to the property. So just knowing that there is a system, regardless of the type of system, is really where I think could be important.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

Amazing. Thanks for joining me with maintenance. We could talk forever on that topic. If anyone has any questions or anything that they want to troubleshoot or for us to discuss, feel free to send a message through this platform or you can send through a message through our Instagram, Soko Realty, as well. And look forward to seeing you for the next.