Here’s what Dubai property managers can do to retain tenants.
A recent survey in Dubai says 50 per cent of tenants are likely to move out in the next 12 months. What can property managers do and how can Yardi help?
Our recommendation would be to move to monthly rentals and map the rent payment dates as per the tenant’s salary cycle. This will help tenants with their cash flow and in turn reduce cheque bounce. For most tenants, the three or four-cheque rental payment creates a pressure on cash flow. A monthly rental plan can improve tenant cash flow as it makes it easier for the tenant to budget every month.
With a monthly rental plan, however, accounting will now have to process 12 cheques, instead of four. Yardi can step in here to help with its core flagship product – Voyager, built on global best practices. Yardi Payment Processing, which is part of the Voyager suite, can help with online payments and direct debits, improving the operations flow. Payment Processing also connects with the tenant rent pay and communications portal, RENTCafé.
Monthly direct debits are quite common in western economies. Being a global PropTech company, Yardi is capable of handling post-dated cheques as well as supporting online monthly payments.
So how does the whole system work operationally?
Tenants can download the Yardi RENTCafé resident app and register themselves. Once they do that, they can view unit details, rental contract, payment terms, and other related documents, such as the Ejari. The tenant can then log in and set up their IBAN number, and direct debit mandate. The mandate form then goes to the bank. Every month, Yardi Voyager generates a file for rent payment and sends it to the bank for processing. Entire process is fully digitised and electronic, making it contactless.
While the tenant uses the RENTCafé app, the property manager uses the core Voyager system to handle accounting and Payment Processing facilitates the process on the back end. RENTCafé can also help with online rent renewals and integration with Ejari and does not require that tenants meet property managers in person. With more than six million residential units now using the app, RENTCafé also helps applicants check unit listings or available inventory
What else can landlords do to improve the tenant experience?
The Yardi Facility Manager solution sends various pointers to the landlords to check the health of building that they want to lease out. Facility Manager picks up maintenance data from different buildings – which could pertain to electrical, mechanical and plumbing requirements, and sends it to the management to understand inefficiencies in the facility. This data helps the landlord to carry out preventive measures and betters the experience of tenants when they move into the property. Facility Manager, along with the RENTCafé and VendorCafe solutions, completely automates the reactive maintenance cycle.
(Source: Gulf News)
