Good communication with Leaseholders is the key

Written by Fiona Brook, New Business Development Manager, Moretons

Without doubt the most significant change during the past five years that has had a major impact on the property management industry has been the increased use of the email by boards of Resident Management Companies, Residents’ Associations and lessees which means that very much more time is spent on administration.

On one side, email is an invaluable means of communication because it is reliable, fast, and cheap. It can be copied extensively. It is very effective for operational reasons and for giving instructions to contractors and third parties. In these areas it is more effective than the telephone.

However, its use can be abused. Many people now have email at home and in their offices and send emails regularly throughout the day, expecting an immediate response. This is fine if it is an emergency but if it is a routine matter it can distract property managers from doing their job of pro-actively managing their blocks and encourage them to concentrate on administration.

At Moretons we use a variety of ways to communicate with our lessees. Obviously we have to use email, but we still use the telephone and letters to correspond with our lessees, which sometimes can prove more effective. Another way that the company prefers to communicate is with regular newsletters that are sent to buildings that we manage. These newsletters advise our lessees of the improvements that we have made on their building and informs them of new developments in legislation or useful tips.

We place strong emphasis on communication with lessees to keep them fully updated on the management of their building. This creates a firm trust that enables our property managers to carry out their role successfully and proactively.