Landlord slammed for 'ridiculous' inspection complaint and 'nitpicking'

19 February 2024 , 19:25

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Many tenants fear when their property manager comes over for an inspection (Image: Getty Images)

A property manager has been slammed after saying tenants "need educating" on expectations from property managers.

Anyone who has ever rented a property prays for a nice landlord or property manager. Some are totally chilled while others make a fuss about every little thing. Australian business woman and a property management expert Shannon Welch stunned social media users after revealing a tenant was told to clean up their fingerprints on a mirrored door during a property inspection.

Despite their home being "presented beautifully" with everything "clean and tidy" the property manager asked the tenant - who has since moved out - to "clean and rectify" the marks present on the sliding doors.

Shannon said her husband has now taken on this client which sparked a conversation between the duo. Taking to TikTok via her page @shannonwelch_, she said: "One day when you have a tenant in an investment property you will want that property manager as she went down to the nitty gritty."

The property manager explained: "I had an interesting conversation with my husband yesterday - he was with a client yesterday who's renting a property, they're obviously looking to build a home through him and they were talking about their recent experience of their rent inspection that they had.

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"They said their home is presented beautifully, everything is clean and tidy and they don't see the issue but the inspector or the property manager mentioned the fingerprints on the mirrored sliding doors and said that they need to be cleaned and rectified.

"The tenant was obviously very upset by that."

Shannon said it "got her thinking". She continued: "I think we need to educate the tenants more to understand that it's not necessarily a bad thing that they've been asked to just remove those fingerprints from the mirror doors.

"I think just turning around and sort of saying the tenant at the time of sign up or key hand over that there are small things that we give you as feedback and we would love to take it as a positive that we are doing our job correctly.

"Because one day when you have a tenant in an investment property you will want that property manager as she went down to the nitty gritty."

The video clip shared on TikTok was inundated with reactions from watchers. Agreeing with Shannon, one TikTok user commented: "Yes it is a bad thing. Inspections are not to inspect house keeping/cleaning."

One individual said: "Totally disagree! Agents are the ones who need to be educated!! Finger prints on a mirror is no reflection on if tenants are taking care of the home." One experienced individual added: "Ex renter, then landlord here. Will never understand the pettiness property managers display when doing an inspection. This is why I never used them."

Another wrote: "It's also worth not upsetting great tenants. The relationship between tenants and property managers is very much a mutual benefit relationship."

"It’s nit picking and I wouldn’t want my tenants to have the stress," said another.

Do you agree? Share your thoughts in the comments below.