{"id":20011,"date":"2020-05-05T18:30:30","date_gmt":"2020-05-05T08:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purefinance.com.au\/?p=20011"},"modified":"2020-11-23T12:44:29","modified_gmt":"2020-11-23T01:44:29","slug":"being-a-good-landlord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purefinance.com.au\/being-a-good-landlord\/","title":{"rendered":"Being a good landlord"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We know that thousands of tenants have lost their jobs or seen a downturn in business due to COVID-19, and that having a large liability like paying rent can be incredibly stressful when you\u2019re facing cash flow issues. But so is managing a mortgage when you have lost rental income. With recent <\/span>moratoriums on evictions<\/a><\/strong> announced and <\/span>a raft of other measures designed to protect tenants during this time<\/a><\/strong>, landlords of both residential and commercial properties would be forgiven for not knowing where to turn for help right now. As tenants reach out for leniency, landlords are faced with some difficult decisions.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Do you reduce the rent? Refinance your loan? Try and claim on your landlord insurance? These are all questions we\u2019re hearing from landlords right now, and while there\u2019s no \u2018right\u2019 way to go about being a landlord in a global pandemic, there are certainly \u2018wrong\u2019 ways. No one wants to see (or be) the <\/span>\u2018aggressive\u2019 and \u2018intrusive\u2019 landlords<\/a><\/strong> grabbing headlines these past few weeks making what is already a stressful time even worse. So, it\u2019s time to embark on a reconnaissance mission of sorts with our top tips for being a good landlord in the time of coronavirus.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Find out how you can reduce your costs to cover any loss of rental income<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s hard to make good decisions when you don\u2019t have all the information at your fingertips. It\u2019s also difficult to be the kind of landlord you want to be when you don\u2019t know what kind of landlord you can <\/span>afford<\/span><\/i> to be (<\/span>fit your own oxygen mask first and all that\u2026<\/span><\/i>). So, the best place to start is by figuring out your financial position and if you can reduce costs on your mortgage. We have put together <\/span>this comprehensive guide to reducing mortgage costs if you have lost income due to COVID-19<\/a><\/strong>, which is a great place to start. However, as landlords, it\u2019s important to know that the same options that are available to all mortgage holders right now (repayment pauses, switching products or type of loan repayments), are there for you too.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While we understand that the impact of taking steps like pressing pause on an investment property\u2019s mortgage will differ depending on how your investment is structured (positively or negatively geared), your mortgage broker or loan manager will be able to help figure out what\u2019s possible. We also know that there are plenty of other costs associated with owning an investment property (or any property for that matter) besides your mortgage, including strata levies, council and water rates, insurance, maintenance and emergency repairs. So, now is the time to see where you can cut all of the costs associated with being a landlord in order to show up as the kind of landlord that you want to be during these tough times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Know your options\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

Now that you have looked into measures to reduce your costs, it\u2019s good to know what options are available to you as a landlord in terms of what you can and can\u2019t do for tenants. Although rules and restrictions <\/span>vary state to state<\/a><\/strong>, generally, landlords can:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n