A guest post by Jason Hetherington, Property Pursuit, Brisbane, Austrailia

Have you ever heard the saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”? When a close friend or family member holds a certain position of power, those who know this person tend to feel that they now have an “inside connection.” In the case of a property manager, their friends and/or family will often come to them the next time they are looking for a place to live. Although this may seem like a great idea at first, it may be worthwhile to think about some of the reasons why it might not be such a good idea to rent to friends and family.

Rental Property Management Guidelines

Property managers are required to follow certain guidelines when renting to a new tenant. These guidelines are made to ensure that the prospective tenants are able to meet the criteria the rental property management has put into place in order to determine if they qualify (can afford) to live there.

When it comes to friends and family, these guidelines are often relaxed because the manager knows them and therefore feels that they are going to be a good tenant. This means that even though they may not actually qualify to move in, they are able to because of who they know. Friends and family also may expect you as a property manager to give them special treatment, which you cannot do as a professional property manager, as this would be unfair to the other tenants and/or property owners.

Are You Prepared?

Ask yourself what you would do if your friend, brother, or cousin is breaking one of the rules and doesn’t really care because they feel that they are special. There are many scenarios in which renting to friends and family can turn into a bad situation – making it a good idea to carefully think this through.

The best advice for dealing with friends and family who want to apply for a vacancy is to tell them up front that you will have to treat them like any other tenant.

Bottom Line

Renting to friends and family can be a blessing, or a curse. If you’ve already made the decision to rent to friends and family, then the best way to ensure that there won’t be any problems is to treat them like any other tenant.

A guest post by All Property Management, Seattle, WA

This week, we’ve got a great infographic to share with you. To quote directly from it, “Being a landlord isn’t easy, especially for someone with a day job, but this is sometimes a hard lesson to learn. … As a DIY landlord, the to do list can be extreme. Is it wise to take that all on yourself?” Read on and find out!

Special thanks to AllPropertyManagement.com for sharing. Enjoy!

AllPropertyManagement.com

By Salvatore J. Friscia, San Diego Premier Property Management, San Diego, CA

During an election year, it’s not uncommon to drive through local neighborhoods and find political signs of every shape, size, and party firmly planted in some of the nicest landscaped yards in town. In some areas, the saturation of signs can become quite unsightly as they are stapled to telephone posts, hanging from balconies, and grouped together on street corners like overgrown weeds. Here in the state of California, a new law (California Civil Code §1940.4) was passed January 1, 2012, that protects the rights of tenants to display their political yard signs without recourse from management or rental owners. The law states that a landlord may not prohibit a tenant from posting or displaying political signs related to any of the following:

1. An election or legislative vote, including an election of a candidate to public office.
2. The initiative, referendum, or recall process.
3. Issues that are before a public commission, public board, or elected local body for a
vote.

Furthermore, signs may even be posted or displayed in windows and on doors in multifamily dwellings, or from the yard, window, door, balcony, or outside wall of a single-family dwelling.

Managers and rental owners do have some control. They can require that the signs only remain posted or displayed for a “reasonable amount” of time, typically 90 days prior to the election and 15 days after the election, and can prohibit signs based on the following:

1. Signs larger than six (6) square feet.
2. If the posting or displaying would violate a local, state, or federal law.
3. If the posting or displaying would violate a lawful provision in a common interest
development.

So whether it’s local, regional, or national, here in California the signs are here to stay. Is this a positive for tenants’ rights, or a continued loss of control for rental managers and owners?

By Steve Boudreault, Buildium, Boston, MA

It’s about time that Buildium’s top wordsmith started writing blogs for All Things Property Management. So here I am and here we go!

I’m going to use my first ATPM blog to connect property management to my number-one passion: Star Trek. Specifically, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9).

Deep Space Nine focused on the space station of the same name, in orbit around a planet called Bajor. Originally an outpost of the evil Cardassians, it was built using Bajoran slave labor during The Occupation, which lasted nearly 50 years. When the Bajorans finally ousted the Cardassians, Starfleet sent officers to take over administration of the station, and try to help Bajor and the Bajorans get back on their feet.

The wrinkle comes in with the discovery of a stable wormhole that connects the area of space right around Bajor to the distant and completely unexplored Gamma Quadrant. Now instead of being at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in space, Deep Space Nine is at the crossroads of a major interstellar highway. That’s progress for you.

So what connections does Deep Space Nine herself have to property management? I’m glad you asked:

• Responsibility. The station was built by Bajorans for the Cardassians but is administrated by Starfleet. So one of the first questions was this: Whose responsibility is it to clean up and repair the station, which the Cardassians were so kind to trash before they left? Is it the owner’s responsibility or the manager’s? Well, since this is science fiction (heavy on the fiction) the responsibility is shared. (Good luck getting that to work in real life.)
• Ownership. At one point later in the series, the Cardassians returned and reclaimed the station. Sure, they’re evil, but the station did belong to them. Should they have a claim to it? It’s in orbit around Bajor, so does that make it Bajoran property? Back here on Earth, when a property changes hands from one owner to another, it can be confusing and frustrating for property managers when they’re not sure to whom they’re answering.
• Tenancy. Deep Space Nine houses the staff who work there, but it also houses the merchants who operate businesses on the Promenade, visitors, dignitaries, allies, and pretty much anyone who’s passing through. And despite the kinder, gentler nature of Star Trek, not all races get along and things sometimes get heated. Similarly, property managers can face the challenges inherent in renting to people of different cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs.

Though fictional, DS9 dealt with many of the same issues that today’s property managers deal with. And though the writers were probably blissfully unaware, they taught us a thing or two about cooperation and compromise when it comes to running a property. Hopefully we can all take something away from it.

But only if we all watch it.