Know Your Client - All about the Landlord
The private rented sector has evolved dramatically and as the industry has embraced technological innovations, systems and processes to ensure that all the necessary compliance is adhered to on behalf of landlords, yet there is one glaring problem that is not always properly addressed - identifying and verifying the legal owner the rental property.
Over the last 12 months we have conducted lettings audits which consist of a 40 point check list, some of which relate specifically to the property owner. Identifying the legal owner is of paramount importance, not just at the point of an audit, but more so when a landlord instructs an agent to act on their behalf.
Knowing the legal owner of a property is essential not only because letting out a property holds significant responsibilities and obligations, but also because the Due Diligence of ensuring who the legal owner is will avoid many serious disputes, in particular, fraud.
What does your Landlord demographic look like?
Customer service and customer care - two phrases that are extremely important to the business owner. These two fundamental elements that define a business and if you lose sight of the importance of the customer, they will go elsewhere.
Competition in any industry is tough and in an age when the customer can jump straight on to social media and declare their disappointment, sometimes unwarranted, it’s easy for customers to go elsewhere.
So why it is important to focus on the customer, not just in terms of what the customer needs, but their journey and expectations? Do we know know enough about what that means?
It’s crucial to know your “customer demographic”, something organisations - private and public spend vast sums of money researching. They profile what this person or group of people “look like”. Not in the physical sense, more so in terms of behaviours. What kind of job do they have, do they drink, do they like a particular kind of coffee or biscuit? Cookies, not the edible kind, track consumer behaviours so that businesses can “target” the consumer based on their internet searches.
However, whilst PropTech is sophisticated, it doesn’t quite “profile” in that way. It matches people to property types, but it doesn’t match landlords/investors to letting agents. The landlord comes in different guises and therefore, the square peg definitely doesn’t fit in the round, and as such, different landlords have different expectations.