Property Management Essay, Research Paper

In the past few years’ people have been saying that Oakland is going down the drain. Its true Oakland has gone from a peace full community to a society that strives on hate and drugs. I feel that if Oakland had professional Property management then it would no longer have the current problems of ghettos. In these ghetto’s is were the problems of drugs and gang violence are the worst. If properties were properly managed then there would be no ghetto projects that control the violence in Oakland. It has been proven that if a manager takes control over the property in all aspects then they can control the drug flow and violence around their property. Due to this fact, if every landlord had proper management on their own property then there would be no were for the drug dealers and gangs to go.

The bases of a good building are its tenants. The selection process of renting out a unit evolves many steps. First after making the tenant fill out an application which asks simple questions, such as date of birth, how many people live with you, income, do you have any pets, etc. After the tenant has filled out this form you must run various types of reports on them. The first report that needs to be run is an eviction report because if the tenant has many evictions than they are probably not the best applicants due to reasons stated on the eviction report. The next report that must be run is credit check. Credit is a way of showing how diligently the applicant pays their bills. If an applicant has bad credit but it is on things that are not related to rent then it is ok. A criminal record check is not required but I would do one to see if the tenant has a record of drug use or confrontation with others. The last and most important report that must be done is your own self-judgement of this person. Nine out of ten people that seem like they are going to make trouble and have a lot of inappropriate visitors do.

After picking the best applicant there are certain legal requirements that must be met. A lease has to be singed. To have a valid lease it must contain the name of the lessor and the lessee, the address of the property, the amount of rent that will be due each month, and must state the length of the lease. Next comes the security deposit. A security deposit ensures both the landlord and the tenant that there will be no backing out of the lease. A landlord has the legal right to charge twice as much as the rent is for a security deposit because it ensure that the landlord will have enough money to cover his expenses if the tenant fails to pay their rent.

Any property that has more than sixteen units must have an on site manager. The on site manager is responsible for the up keeping of the units and the property. A manager is the landlord’s representative and is in charge of screening tenants, negotiating leases, and hiring personnel to maintain the building and its grounds. Being a property manager means having to do a lot of jobs. You have to be a supervisor to make sure that the workers are on to of their duties. It also evolves being a collection agent because you have to make sure that every one pays their rent. You have to sometimes play the stool bird due to the fact that you have to call security on people that are not allowed on the premises. Sometimes you even have to be a lawyer because some tenants fight their eviction.

When a tenant does not pay their rent it puts the manager is a hard position. The manager has to then make a decision to either serve them a three day notice which states that you have three days to move out or pay their rent or to negotiate a payment plan. A manager does not have to negotiate a payment plan with anyone by law but does it because they realize that money trouble can come up. There is another way to get rid of a tenant which is called a thirty day notice which states that the tenant has done something is violation of their lease and has thirty days to move out. If the tenant refuses to move by the time given then the manager has the right to go to a court an order a sheriff to physically remove the tenant. If a tenant wants to move before their lease is up they can sign what is called a mutual release agreement which states that the lease is being allowed to be broken with the consent of both the tenant and the owner.

I feel that the manager has complete control over the property and only if they can allow the building to become infested with gangs and drugs. If all properties in Oakland were maintained to these guide lines then Oakland would not be such violent place to live. To make this idea work every property manager has to do their part in keeping gangs and drugs out of their building. With no manager allowing these crimes to happen in or in front of their building then we will be giving the next generation of Oakland’s children the chance to succeed in life without these negative influence happening in their homes.