Landlord – you ain’t no lord

Regular readers of ‘Eurobuild’ should already be very familiar with the PRS sector. In our magazine and on our site you can often come across news about the latest home rental project by Resi4Rent, or Golub GetHouse, or about the activities of the Apartments for Rent Fund [Fundusz Mieszkań na Wynajem]. But the average John Smith or Joanna Kowalska still tends to be rather wary of institutions and often chooses to seek out an apartment in the traditional way. Why is this? I suspect that it boils down to a question of finances and maybe also the fear of being dependent on a large organisation that, from the outset, seems to be in a stronger negotiating position, with pre-drafted cast-iron contracts and a whole department of lawyers behind them. And what also comes in to play is the Polish unwillingness to give money to intermediaries, which is something agents know all too well about when it comes to their commissions. That’s why we trawl through all the small ads on the internet by ourselves, and then phone round and arrange to see the apartments – and sometimes we sign a contract believing we’ve got ourselves a great deal. But later on it often doesn’t work out that way. And that’s especially true now, in the midst of a pandemic.

Although there is a wide choice available on the market at the moment, going to view more than ten apartments is currently not recommended. Often people limit themselves to viewing only those places that look the best. But despite this – and I warn you! – some potential landlords have been ignoring the current reality and holding ‘casting sessions’ for the role of tenant! For me, this is unacceptable, not least because of the risk involved in being part of a large gathering of people. And all the more so, when some people seem to resent having to wear a mask or about disinfecting their hands so much. Well, let’s just imagine that we’ve actually managed to go and see a really nice apartment, negotiated a decent price and even signed a contract – and then it’s all plain sailing from there, isn’t it? You have got to be joking! That’s precisely when you enter choppier waters. Everyone knows (and this is something I’ve seen for myself) that apartments bought by individual landlords to rent out are not always finished or fitted out to the highest of standards. The shower cabin (purchased at a discount) may leak, paint could be peeling off the taps (that had previously been part of a store display), the kitchen cupboards might not have handles (because the owner failed to pay the installers), the stove might break after a couple of days (it wasn’t quite top of the range), the cupboard space might be microscopic (a larger wardrobe would have been more expensive and wouldn’t have fit into such a small space anyway) – these are only some of the indignities I have had to face over the last eight years. But the worst thing of all is when every question or politely phrased remark is taken as a personal insult or despicable attack on their business and so is met with the sentence – always uttered in the most offended tone: “If you don’t like it, you can pack your bags and get out!”

You might have been under the impression that such behaviour had become a thing of the past and that landlords like this couldn’t survive on today’s market. Nothing could be further from the truth. The market might react more quickly to change but it doesn’t necessarily react in the way people expect. Dear landlords, if you’ve heard it being said that difficult times are coming, then the sooner you take this on board the better it will be for you. These days it’s difficult to find a long-term tenant who pays promptly and there is no reason to believe that this situation is going to change any time soon. The number of apartments on the market is huge and the institutional market is developing at an astronomical rate, by winning new converts from those who were previously reluctant to try it. If you don’t want your apartments to be empty, you don’t have to roll out the red carpet in front of your tenants. All you need to do is just show some respect to those people who are going to pay you; after all, their situation might not look so rosy either. And for heaven’s sake, don’t expect a petite woman to carry a sofa up to the third floor, which you ordered without taking the option of having it delivered because it was cheaper. Soon such oversights will be costing you a lot more.