It all started with” Is it as bad as they say?” “Will it go away?” The new normal.
What has it meant to us as landlords?
Although we prepared in early February because of the uncertainty, this virus ended up being a worse case scenario x 10! Although the Casa Rental Management office team prepared for the hit that was sure to come, we wanted to make sure our property owners’ and our tenants were not caught off guard. We immediately sent a newsletter to both owners and tenants with the information that was available at the time. Communication was the key.
This thing was scary. People were losing their jobs businesses were shutting down and people were getting sick. We are now 9 months in to the new normal.
The Federal Government came through with CERB payments, the BC Government came through with residential rental help and we had a new normal. Rents were still expected to be paid. Did your tenants pay their rent in full?
We can honestly say 100% of our tenants paid their rent in full every month.
Was that the industry standard? It was not. Why were we so lucky? We attribute this to transparency, communication, compassion, and our great management team.
Because Casa Rental Management has experience in helping owners collect their rent, we have also taken on quite a few additional properties to help owners avoid the additional work of eviction and re-renting their property. Once Casa Rental Management was involved, most tenants paid their rent in full. If eviction ever becomes necessary, we can do that too.
We sourced PPE equipment to keep our staff and tenants safe when restrictions were lifted. This allowed us to check on our owner’s properties in a timely manner, to keep the property in good repair.
We have found that now that inspections are back on track, people are working from home. They have settled in to their new normal. Tenants may require more space for a home office or a “classroom” instead of the kitchen table.
We expect that once this has all settled, there may be a backlog of people wanting to move, which in turn will create many properties coming back on the market for rent. Will there be a demand for properties?
So far, rental prices have dropped up to 14.1% in the lower mainland. People are moving, but often it is because they can find a similar property for less money per month.
Will the drop in rental value continue to drop? My crystal ball tells me that remains to be seen.
By Tammy de Diego Mott - Casa Rental Management
