I am curious to know if I am the only one.
But, do you ever pause before replying to tenants, just to make sure you’re wording things properly?
I sometimes struggle messaging back tenants about things like repairs and access.
How do some of you all handle it… do you just reply quickly or do you find yourself thinking it through first?
Thanks
What a random question. I approach such messages the same as all mail, messages that I receive, whether or no from tenants. Sometimes the thought process is quick & replies are quick. Other times, I might need to consider a reply. Other times, I might text back to say bear with me whilst I consider.
Well done for asking
Personally, yes of course. It’s part of correspondence that is part of a business relationship between you and a tenant. And could be used in legal actions if you get it wrong. So best not to reply immediately if instant emotions may get in the way of what you really want to say. It’s hard to get tone right by email or letter sometimes a phone call first is better. I’ve made enough mistakes in emails over the years to know haste isn’t always my friend.
If in doubt save to draft and meanwhile reply ‘thanks I’ll get back to you shortly’. If it’s an emergency /urgent situation I’d recommend whatapp or the telephone anyway
And ask for advice here - you wont get a shortage of views from many people who may have the same issues or much more experience as a LL than myself or you.
Good luck
Bit of a random response that Karl? 
… esp to someone posting for the first time 
Anyhoo… Yes Donna, I do the same. I often write a response and hold it overnight to see if it needs adjusting the next day. We work hard on our relationships with our tenants and don’t want to jeopardise it through a carelessly worded email.
And I often reply with a quick “Thanks for your email. I’ll get back to you tomorrow about this.” to give myself breathing space if life is super busy.
As a general rule yes unless it’s an emergency type situation. i slow replies so that I am not their agony aunt or uncle, I had one tenant reply to me decades long texts just filled with his emotional issues about a broken curtain rail that he broke.
I realise if you leave him a day or two to reply he would calm down and be less emotional about the situations it forces his logic brain as well to engage which he never liked doing everything to him was a disrespect, It also protects your peace
These were the TT we concentrated on evicting before RRB comes in power. We replaced all of them with TT with better attitude, humble and not entitled, not confrontational, not treating LL like a servant who will jump at a click of their fingers. We also recently refused a couple of people like that.
Well done!
Any tips to identify tenants with bad attitude who are confrontational and not humble etc before they sign contracts? Please do share!
Best
it is something that comes with age I have worked in hundreds of private homes and been a landlord for decades., Just more questions than the standard ones about the rental.
Yeah it’s definitely better to get a vibe on the attitude upfront and their mindset even simple things like taking their shoes off before coming onto a viewing or helping you move a so far if it’s partially blocking the way just little things like this just showed that they are engaged as people with like a human side rather than standing there watching you move everything Yeah for sure it’s your job to do that but it exposes their mindset early .
I’m sure we’ve all been there where we’ve had a viewing and you can just tell the talents attitude is off from the start I think the classical one is “ Will the property be professionally cleaned before we move in (when it’s already clean)”
Lol, I’ve had that a few times, requesting a professional clean when the place has already been cleaned. I am a bit OCD about cleaning and my properties are usually quite clean when being let. I found through bad experience unfortunately that people who make such comments are either extremely dirty or penny pincher (both types don’t intend to clean the property ever after moving in).