Would you pay your tenants to take good care of your property? This Letting Agent would. | Discuss

A Dublin Letting Agency has approached the market with a new, friendly approach by offering tenants a financial reward if they take good care of their rented property.

Conor Battigan, the brains behind Tenant Ready, said:

“I’ve been in the property business for over 10 years in different guises, I also am a tenant and have a property that I let out,” he explained. “Over the years, I’ve found that if you’re rewarding people instead of threatening to take away part of their deposit, people are more likely to work with you.”

Battigan decided that as charges and rents continued to rise for tenants a financial carrot might be more effective than the financial stick of losing money from their deposit as an incentive for tenants to keep their home in good repair.

Under his reward scheme, tenants who look after their property and abide by their lease will get 5% of a month’s rent back at the end of the year.

“Right now I have a family renting a four-bed house and every 12 months they get €100.

“It’s a win-win situation. The tenants are happy because they feel appreciated and the landlord is happy because if a tenant leaves after 12 months there’s very little work to be done in terms of redecorating.”

Let us know your thoughts. Landlords, do you feel your tenants would take better care of your property under this sort of reward scheme?