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So, are you a good Landlord?
Doing well while doing good
At MFR we believe that in order to really succeed landlords need to meet a variety of interests to generate a healthy and consistent income. But first some questions for you:
- Do you believe landlords can increase their bottom line while also improving habitability and affordability for the tenants they serve? - We do.
- Do you believe your own efforts to do good – where you do business as well as in the wider world -- can make you a more successful landlord? - We do.
- Do you have what it takes to do well by doing good?
MFR Director Peter Shapiro asks these and other tough questions and offers some surprising answers.
The “Charge” of Landlording
The landlord-tenant relationship concerns one of life’s most fundamental needs: shelter. Throughout history, the nature of this relationship has been highly adversarial and also quite cozy. Although their needs can greatly diverge over issues like what to charge for rent or what level of habitability is acceptable, landlords and tenants also depend heavily on each other in several respects. Both parties need each other to:
- Enter into a tenancy contract, accepting common ground and mutual obligations from the start
- Be reliable and cooperative in fulfilling these obligations over weeks, months and years
- Share accountability and responsibility for the upkeep and security of a piece of property
And when it doesn’t work …
But what happens when these needs are not met? What happens when these responsibilities are not fulfilled? Some examples of the consequences – whether intended or not – include living in a freezing apartment for days on end; losing thousands in unpaid rent, damaged property or professional fees; living in fear, losing friendships; and more. Each can inflict serious costs onto each other when obligations are not met. There is thus an interdependence built into the landlord-tenant relationship, that is based on these overlapping needs and obligations, and can motivate a great deal of mutual cooperation.
Interdependence
This interdependence however, creates a “charge” that goes beyond what is present in other business relationships, even those in which one or both parties are economically vulnerable. For example, if a store refuses to extend credit to a customer who has no money or food stamps, that person can get to a food pantry, church program or soup kitchen, or appeal to family, friends or neighbors for help. Because the supply of food is less restricted, customers are more “mobile” in meeting their needs.
When a landlord evicts a tenant, however, it is with the knowledge that the tenant may not find a decent, affordable housing replacement. Whether or not a tenant’s circumstances seem “self-inflicted,” the risk of homelessness can weigh heavily on those who provide housing. And a soft housing market may not provide a soft landing for the tenant, given how much more a ‘home’ can mean to someone. Whereas for tenants the risks of becoming uprooted and homeless are all too real, for landlords the risk of economic losses or even foreclosure or bankruptcy can also weigh heavily. The business of landlording has its risks as well as rewards.
Does being good really matter?
This interdependence also creates opportunities for both landlords and tenants to be on the side of angels. And contrary to conventional wisdom, most of us like to rise to the occasion.
You might be the type of tenant that routinely cleans the hallways, front yard and trash area because it is the right thing to do and it creates more beauty. Perhaps you pay the rent before the first of the month. You may be someone who changes common area light fixtures, fixes things or tell the landlord about potential maintenance issues, not as a condition for paying the rent, but simply to be more helpful. Even if the landlord chooses to reward this generosity on your part, everyone benefits when tenants provide such proactive help.
On the landlord side, perhaps you’re the type that stretches when your tenant owes money. Maybe you respond at 2:00 am when the tenant’s heating system breaks down. You might decide to buy a carpet in their favorite colors, or counsel tenants when personal problems interfere with their tenancy responsibilities. Or maybe you are the sort of person who will drive a tenant to a job interview.
Of course these actions may demonstrate good business practice or human decency. But it is often so “up-close” and personal that it takes on an extra dimension. We see this type of generosity practiced, no matter how “inconvenient” it may be. In the real world, people routinely extend themselves to help – and may experience a ‘helpers high’ in the process -- despite an internal voice telling them to bar the door and guard the checkbook! Because the actual world of landlord-tenant relations raised here is rarely discussed, it demands some attention.
Helping is a balancing act
As we can see, this interdependence gives both landlords and tenants a tremendous potential to be responsible and genuinely helpful towards each other. But this potential brings its own set of questions:
- How much generosity is appropriate and productive in a landlord-tenant relationship?
- How much flexibility is appropriate in a landlord-tenant relationship?
- When might our own acts of flexibility contribute to the long-term improvement of landlord-tenant relationships?
- When might they smooth over more significant problems that will only erupt later?
- What kinds of responsibility or behavior do we expect from tenants or from landlords as part of this “bargain” and do they understand this expectation?
- How can we distinguish between helpfulness that inspires a positive response, and helpfulness that furthers a type of “dependency”?
Through these and other questions, the good landlord experiences a variety of tensions, being pulled along a continuum of responsibility between:
Self -- Family -- Tenants -- Building -- The Community
How can a landlord maximize success across these competing interests?
A Jack of All Trades – except for one?
Being a landlord requires that you perform many, many tasks skillfully. And over time, good landlords either develop these skills or contract with professionals to secure them. Fortunately there is good quality help for many of these tasks. If you want help with plumbing, electrical or the like, for example, you can find competent professionals by browsing Craigslist http://boston.craigslist.org/ or Angie’s List www.angieslist.com/AngiesList/ . If a dispute escalates between a landlord and tenant, lawyers can also provide invaluable assistance.
But where do you find help when it comes to managing tenant relationships, particularly if a conflict has escalated and negotiation or other action is needed? In this series, we ask you to explore an aspect of landlording where it is not as obvious where to go for help and where the answers are more subtle.
If you’ve been too busy with contracting details, doing your own repairs or keeping the books to focus on the arts of communication and negotiation, you are in the right place.
If you’ve found it hard to be nice without being fooled, welcome! You can have all the help you need on rehab, plumbing and the like, but risk everything because of people problems. People problems can pose an extreme challenge and drain your energy, nerves and pocket-book. We hope this series will provide you with timely relief!
Many of the approaches in this series will not only be useful for landlords but for others involved with rental housing, for example: building managers, real estate brokers, service providers, advocates, policy makers and, of course, tenants. But the primary audience here is landlords who are seeking to do well by doing good: doing good for themselves and their families … and doing good for their tenants, neighbors, professionals, and their community.
Because Relationships Count …
The emphasis in this series is on the creation and maintenance of healthy relationships. Why? Because healthy relationships shape perceptions of what is possible, and what kinds of behaviors will produce better outcomes. Healthy relationships between landlords and tenants can:
- increase the reliability of transactions and the reliability of agreements
- expand your options and maneuvering room in difficult situations
- improve joint problem solving,
- increase tenants’ and landlords’ respect for each other’s roles
- reduce the need for costly, time-consuming evictions or legal actions
In other words, developing healthy relationships can mean enormous savings in time, money and stress.
In each newsletter we will tackle a different area. Woven into these articles you will discover our philosophy, and have a chance to examine or develop your own philosophy as a landlord. Next time we will focus on some basic building blocks of effective communication and negotiation.
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Peter Shapiro is the Director of Mediation For Results, a program of Just-A-Start, a nonprofit community development corporation in Cambridge. Peter and his colleagues have worked with thousands of landlords and tenants to improve their relationships without sacrificing their well-being. You can reach him at 617 494-0444 Ext 317, or email him at
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Web page: mediationforresults.org
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