Learn to manage the big issues: Bed Bugs
Kathy Berner, owner of Regency Property Management and Real Estate, tells of the two main issues landlords should know before investing
When landlords think of property ownership and management issues, they tend to think of the BIG obstacles, such as finance, location and price. Ignoring the small issues can be as costly in the end.
Bed Bugs on the Rise
There is a wave of bed bug infestations currently sweeping across North America and it’s starting to affect landlords and their pocket books in a big way. The residential tenancies boards are generally ruling on the side of the tenant, claiming that it is the landlord’s responsibility to pay for all extermination costs, even in single-family homes. Unfortunately, bed bugs are very difficult to get rid of in multi-family rental units as tenants are constantly on the move, and because traditional pesticide extermination requires the cooperation of the tenant to properly prepare the unit for the extermination process.
Having bed bugs should not be a big taboo event. It’s the property manager’s job to make sure that the tenant knows that they must report the appearance of any bites or suspicious bugs in their units immediately, as minor infestations are much easier to tackle than larger ones.
We educate our tenants by providing a pamphlet on bed bug facts and photos so that they can easily identify them and also so they can feel assured that we want them to call and report the problem immediately.
Property managers should now be taking this issue seriously and hence why we recently invested $100,000 in a heat treatment machine.
2 Know the local bylaws and the Tenancy Act
You, or your property manager, need to know their respective Residential Tenancy Act and the local municipal bylaws. For example, a Regina by-law states that all smoke detectors in rental units (including single-family homes) must be hard-wired into the electrical system and be checked and logged by the owner/property manager every six months.
It is also very common for landlords to lose a case at a rental board hearing if they are unprepared, don’t have the documents filled out properly or have not taken the correct steps to resolve an issue. For example, we were recently at a hearing for an immediate eviction for unpaid rent past 15 days late, and there was a small error in our application. The judge could not accept it, so we have to re-service and wait a further two weeks for another hearing date – that is two more weeks of unpaid rent.
Taking images of your rented property on a regular basis can prove crucial. Dated photographs have saved our owners thousands of dollars in reimbursed damages and cleaning costs over the years. And equally important, saved our company hours and hours of time in disputes that never happened because we had the photos to cut the conversation short.
Kathy Berner is owner of Regency Property Management & Real Estate in Regina. Check out www.regencypropertymanagement.ca for further information or call 306-359-1655.
by Kathy Berner
