Harcourts Property Management COVID 19 Update Following are considerations for your business should your team need to self isolate or if we are required by State Governments or Health Authorities to work from home. Importantly during this time we need to be aware of people in our businesses who may be at high risk, some examples are diabetics, pregnant women, asthmatics or anyone else with underlying chronic health or respiratory conditions. Please discuss options with them to keep them healthy. Working from home If we are required to work from home for an extended period of time, some things to take into consideration are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.
Does the team have lap tops they can take home? Can you put your phone on night switch with a message to call mobiles? You may want to have everyone email you only during this period. Do team members have the band width on their home internet to work effectively? Consider reimbursing them for internet costs during this period. Can you access your property management software systems remotely? Have they got family at home who may be sick? Have they got children at home that may require them to work on an adhoc basis? If they have family at home who are sick they may not be able to work, how will you cover their tasks? Have all of your team members got mobile phones they can use? if they are not company phones ensure that these costs are refunded to them. If teams are accessing data on their phones from home these costs will also needs to be covered. If you are not paperless does your software system have updated notes for the team to refer to remotely? How will you stay connected to the team on a daily basis to check in, help solve issues and provide support? Install SKYPE, Zoom or Workplace on every lap top so the team can stay connected to each other via this. Assume normal working hours apply even from home. Have a plan for urgent maintenance (notes below).
Casuals If you employ casuals consider their jobs may change during any restrictions. You may want to consider tasks they can do during this time. Ensure that they have the ability to access compensation from the State or Federal Govt to cover their wages.
Produced by Sadhana Smiles CEO of Property Management Harcourts International Š 2020 Harcourts International Limited
Public contact Inspections If you have any routine inspections over the next 4 weeks push them back, notify the tenants of change of date and ensure that the owners understand why we have pushed them back and the new date. Vacating tenants You may have tenants vacating during any isolation period, should they still be doing this you will need to make arrangements for them to leave keys somewhere in the office or to leave them at the property, ensure that you have a spare key Teams may not be able to access these properties to conduct final inspections, which will impact refund of bonds. Inform vacating tenants and owners that this may be the case and make any refunds a priority once you able to conduct final inspections Vacant properties Properties that are just on the market or coming on the market over the next few weeks maybe impacted by isolation or reduced public interaction requirements. Inform owners they may experience longer leasing times which will impact their income and loan payments and that they should contact their bank manager asap. If you are able to, do a virtual tour of the property and send these to prospective tenants who can then view and apply. We can still process applicants pending physical viewing. (we do have a business partner who can assist you with this) You may find it difficult to get hold of referees during this time as they may sick or in isolation and unable to be contacted. Tenants may be unable to pay bond and rent to secure the property due to financial strains. High vacancy periods may mean that we may have to work with our owners to consider rental payment plans to still lease the property. Use IRE and relay messages to prospective tenants on safety measures we are taking, no shaking of hands, washing hands post inspections and if they are feeling unwell to not attend any viewings. Ensure you maintain the inspection database should you need to contact attendees at any point. Your team may be uncomfortable conducting inspections during this time and as an extreme you could consider winding the clock back to having tenants collect keys, leave a deposit and ID, view the property and return keys within the hour. Rent receipts Rent payments Send an email to your tenants informing them that you are expecting rental payments to be made, if however they are going to be late to please let their property manager know.
Produced by Sadhana Smiles CEO of Property Management Harcourts International Š 2020 Harcourts International Limited
Paying owners and Creditors You will need to find a way to continue to receipt rents, pay owners and creditors. If you cannot access the system remotely contact your IT and software support to see how you can facilitate this quickly. If you outsource your trust accounting, ensure that your supplier has the ability to continue to do your payments and balance your trust account. If your tenants rent is going to be late confirm when they will be paying and arrange for part payments. Understand that they may be in casual employment or sick and unable to access funds. Inform your owners who will be impacted by arrears as to when the rent will be paid, if necessary send an email with this information so they can go to their bank manager and inform them to reduce any penalties on loan payments. Inform your creditors on late payments, especially councils and body corporates so that where possible, we can reduce penalties. Maintenance If there are any isolation periods, we may not be able to find trades who are willing to attend maintenance. • Let your tenants know that any general maintenance will be delayed. • Contact your emergency trades now to find out what their policy is during this time. • If there is an emergency tenants may need to contact state emergency. • Ensure that someone is on deck to take these calls, contact all relevant parties, provide advise and make decisions.
General If you are unable to facilitate working from home, access to software, processing of rents, payments to owners and creditors, please contact Sadhana to discuss what further options there may be available to assist you. Payments to your general account may be impacted, consider what payments can be made in instalments should this happen, talk to your bank if you have loan payments due or perhaps you may require an overdraft. Stay connected 1. Setup an office WhatsApp or workplace group, this way everyone can stay connected to each other and provide support. 2. Setup a department/team WhatsApp or workplace group. 3. Have regular catch ups via Skype, Zoom or workplace with all of your teams. 4. Ensure that managers and department heads connect daily with their teams. 5. Talk to your managers everyday to keep across how everyone is feeling. 6. Be proactive on communication with your clients, we haven’t experienced a situation like this before, people will understand especially if you are transparent and provide them with options.
Produced by Sadhana Smiles CEO of Property Management Harcourts International © 2020 Harcourts International Limited
What if someone in my team catch’s COVID19 Ensure that they are supported and are receiving medical treatment. Ensure they have reported it to the health authorities. Inform authorities on anyone they may have been in contact with. It is important that you keep open for inspection records and attendees phone numbers or email addresses. Ensure that they are medically cleared prior to returning to work.
More Information For more Information and to keep updated on this changing space, please visit: Australian Government - Department of Health Small to Medium Size Business – Government Stimulus Package
Produced by Sadhana Smiles CEO of Property Management Harcourts International © 2020 Harcourts International Limited