RentWorks Property Management

General information

Locating and Placing Tenants

Selection and placement of the right tenant is one of the most important parts of successfully managing property. Advertising draws a large number of enquiries as well as personal contacts. We personally show prospective tenants through properties and do not give out keys for them to show themselves through. We insist on references and photo I.D. If we do not have the right tenant for your property immediately we will wait until we do. There is no point in putting someone into the property who may become a problem down the track.

Credit checking Tenants

We are on line with Veda Advantage and T.I.N.Z where we credit check prospective tenants for any bad debts or Tenancy Tribunal orders. We check back on references to ensure that the tenant has not left previous tenancies owing rental money or having caused damages that have not been paid for.
Money paid Up Front by Tenants: We collect four weeks bond and one weeks rent from the tenant before they take possession of your property. The bond is paid into the Bond Centre at Porirua, where it is kept until the end of the tenancy.

Rent Collection

We are on line with the Bank and daily checking of rents ensures that non payment of rent is dealt with instantly by a phone call to the tenant followed up by a 14 day notice. We quickly identify any potential problems and act before they become an issue.

Access to your Account

We provide a service whereby you are able to access your account at any time day or night. Many of our owners find this service very useful. There is a small annual charge for this.

Rental Payments to the Landlord

We pay our landlords on a weekly basis, to our knowledge we are the only Property Management Company in Christchurch which does this. At the end of each month you will receive a Statement. Keep these for your end of financial year tax returns.

Rent Reviews

Obtaining the correct rent for your property is an important part of maximising your return from the property. We regularly carry out a review of the rents being paid, and where appropriate will advise the owner that a property’s rent could be increased. Remember a tenant must be in a property for six months and be given two months notice of a rent increase. On a fixed term we must wait until the end of the tenancy.

Termination of Tenancy

We will advise you when a tenant has given notice to terminate their tenancy. We will immediately send the tenant the form “How to get your bond back” so they can prepare for departure. We arrange a time to carry out the final/bond inspection with the tenant present, so that any problems can be ironed out immediately.

Property Inspections

Inspections are an important part of managing your property. We pride ourselves in providing probably the most detailed inspections in the business. We don’t simply tick boxes. We will carry out the first inspection after six weeks just to ensure that everything is going well with your property. The second inspection is when the tenant has been in the property for three months and thereafter every three months. You will receive a full descriptive report after the inspection within a few days. We will make recommendations where necessary and any changes to the property are noted.

Maintenance

It is important to keep your property in good condition in order to obtain full market rent. A well maintained property always rents first. Be prepared to carry out maintenance regularly whether it is painting or some other improvement. We, as home owners are always carrying out some improvements to our homes. It is the same with a rental property. It needs attention, particularly if you want to on-sell in the future. We will arrange maintenance on your behalf and we have reliable trades people who work for us regularly at good rates. Some owners like to do their own maintenance. If you do it is important that this work is carried out quickly and not left to a “rainy day" otherwise we get constant calls from the tenant, wanting to know when the maintenance is going to be done. We are happy to advise on improvements to the property so that you achieve maximum rent.

Re-Advertising Your Property

We contact the owner at least 2 months prior to a lease ending and tenants at least 6 weeks out. We will put your property on Trade Me immediately we know a tenant is leaving and we often get the property rented soley from Trade Me, well in advance of the tenant vacating.
From many years experience we have found it is not necessarily beneficial to advertise properties in The Press any more than two weeks prior to the tenant leaving. Often when people are looking they want a property immediately. When we are advertising one property we will cross reference it with another coming up soon which means that there are times we will get a property rented without even advertising it.