Real estate outsourcing: lease renewal process insights

Did you know that the Real Estate sector is one of the fastest growing industries to outsource offshore, growing its outsourcing by 190% since 2012? With a multitude of benefits and a strong ROI, it’s no wonder there has been such a huge uptake from Real Estate agencies seeking out innovative ways to grow.

The key to outsourcing for Property Management (PM) agencies is in handing over the admin load to cost-effective offshore Property Management Assistants (PMAs). Your local PMs will feel greater job satisfaction, with time to focus on the business development and customer service tasks that are central to improving your rent roll.

Learn how to give your agency freedom to grow with part three of our three-part agency growth series.

Outsourcing the Lease Renewal Process

Working to keep a high quality tenant in a rental property is always better than looking for a new one while leaving the home vacant. It maintains cash flow and offers superior customer service to all of your landlords. However, managing this can be a big drain on resources for your PMs.

The efficient, cost-effective alternative is to have an offshore PMA who monitors all of the lease timelines and proactively initiates a lease renewal at the right time. This creates more time for your PMs to shift their focus to big-picture tasks, while creating consistency for landlords and tenants, and usually reducing vacancy rates.

Let’s take a look at the typical steps involved in renewing a lease for a property, when working with an offshore PMA:

1. Monitoring Tenant Lifecycle

   
   Your PMA can access the entire list of your agency’s current tenants, and flag the ones who are approaching the final 90 days before the expiration of their lease. This will mean that your Property Management team are always aware of lease timeframes for all properties, and can take the appropriate action at the correct time.

2. Investigate Current Market Conditions

   
   Next, your PMA is able to conduct research into the local market’s rental trends to assess if any terms or conditions, such as weekly rental payments, need to be adjusted for the next period.

3. Seek Approval

   
   Once all of the administrative duties are complete, your PMA is able to report back to your Australian agent, or the landlord directly. This will depend on your agency’s requirements for communication with landlords. The report will contain their research and suggestions, ready for a final approval. This can include proposed changes to rent and the suggested lease duration; for example 6 months or one year.

4. Contact the Tenant

   
   Your PMA can then directly contact the tenant, either by email, post or over the phone, depending on your guidelines, to explain that their lease is approaching the expiry. This will provide them with an indication of the tenant’s intention to either renew their lease or finish their contract, moving out by the lease expiry date.

5. Preparing the Renewal Documentation

   
   If the tenant indicates that they wish to remain living at the current property, your PMA can prepare the required paperwork for the lease renewal. They will then send it to the tenant for their review and acceptance for the new period. Alternatively, should the tenant choose to leave, then your PMA can arrange for an exit inspection.

6. Follow Up for Submission

   
   Your PMA will take the hassle out of chasing up the tenant for the return of all the necessary paperwork. They will take full responsibility in coordinating with the tenant and securing the new lease agreement.

7. Update Tenant Profile

   
   At this point, your PMA files all paperwork in your system electronically, using your preferred property management software, such as Rockend’s Rest, Property Tree, Property Me, AgentPoint, Complete Data, Agentbox or Console. They will update the details in your database so that all of your records are completely up-to-date and accurate for your Australian team.

8. Compile a Report for the Agent and Landlord

   
   After the lease has been renewed and everything is signed off, your PMA can complete an End Of Day Report (EODR) with succinct notes for your Australian team and landlord to look over, keeping them in the loop of all work done on specific properties.

Change Management

It’s no doubt crossed your mind that your local property management team may not be as keen for offshoring as you are. For some agencies, push back from their local team can be a deal breaker.

The best thing to remember when initiating change, is that stakeholders will inevitably want to know what’s in it for them. Begin your change management strategy by selling the benefits to your existing team. Showing them other agencies that are successfully outsourcing, and how they’re doing it, is another top tactic for getting buy in from your team.

If you choose to hire offshore PMAs through a reputable outsourcing provider, they should be able to work through the change management process with you, providing in-office support and answering any questions.

Read all about the tried-and-tested steps for introducing Philippines outsourcing in this blog post.

Want More Industry Insights?

Knowledge is power, and we work hard to equip Real Estate Principals with the right knowledge and tools so they can be successful in their outsourcing journey, and ultimately, in their agency.

Our team at Beepo have written a free eBook specifically for leaders in Real Estate, Answering All Of Your Questions About Outsourcing In The Real Estate Sector.

Drawing on insights from two of Australia’s top industry experts, we extensively cover all of the Frequently Asked Questions about growing your agency and outsourcing administrative tasks to the Philippines.

Download Answering All Of Your Questions About Outsourcing In The Real Estate Sector

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