As we are landlords ourselves we know all too well the costs involved with renting properties and we are aware particularly of how much maintenance costs can eat into landlords profits. Our portfolio managers look after the majority of the maintenance tasks for our landlords and we are always trying to help our landlords save money where possible.
Recently the inventiveness at Abode HB saved a landlord approximately £75, as a little canny trick we used prevented him from having to pay for his locks to be changed.
A tenant vacated a property and called us to say, “I have posted the keys back through the letterbox for you”. We quickly checked our key log and noticed we did have keys for the property so we would be able to retrieve the tenants keys. Our normal procedure is to attend a move out appointment with a tenant, however on this occasion the tenant left in advance and thinking she was doing us a favour posted the keys through the letterbox.
Off goes Steve, our Tenant Administrator to the property to do the move out appointment and collect the keys from the doormat! On arrival at the property Steve finds that his keys do not work in the door, they were new keys and we believe there to be an error on the copy we held.
“Oh no, help, how can we get these keys out of the property!?” I do think any other agent would have just called a locksmith and billed the landlord for a new lock, however we didn’t want to bother the landlord or incur him any costs.
So the Abode thinking machine gets going, it went a little bit like this,
Elaine: “Does anyone have a magnet!”
Collette / Tracy: “Er, a magnet, um no, I don’t think so – why!?”
Elaine: “Well if we could find a magnet we could maybe retrieve the keys!?”
Collette and Tracy are now envisaging a large magnet that looks a bit like this, and thinking how on earth will that help us get the keys through a letter box!
Collette returns home and asks her husband, for a magnet that will help get some keys out through a letterbox! “Leave it with me” says Mr Collette.
A day later, Collette walks into Abode HQ with an amazing contraption and the team have a practise picking up keys – it works!
So they send Steve to the property with Abode’s money saving magnet to “fish” the keys out of the property!
Our landlord has saved money on a lock change, we have not caused him any bother and we have successfully “fished” for keys!
Now that’s what makes us great!
People often talk about money magnets and attracting money with them, Abode’s money magnet attracts money to you by helping you save money!
