With “Rent Control”, “Reduced Security Deposits” and Other Issues Being Discussed It’s Important To Appreciate All the Good Landlords Who Provide High Quality, Affordable Rentals In Our Province
Successful Alberta landlords know the importance of maintaining our rental properties. We know that to be successful you need attractive and affordable properties that your tenants will find comfortable and want to live in.
Good tenants tend to stay a lot longer when a property is nice, well-maintained and priced right.
Successful Alberta landlords also know it’s important for a landlord to be professional. This means knowing the rules and laws, following the rules and laws, and cooperating with tenants for a “win-win” situation. We make tenant screening a priority to find good tenants, and make sure tenants know we are good landlords with great rental properties looking for a win-win business relationship.
Our community of hard-working and professional small landlords across the province know that good landlords can make a difference in our communities and we are working hard to improve the rental industry in Alberta.
Small Residential Alberta Landlords Play An Important Role and Are Important Stake-Holders
Alberta landlords have invested in our province and are important stake-holders. Because we believe in the success of Alberta we have invested our hard earned money here.
We create great rental properties which in turn improves our communities. We create welcoming homes for others coming to Alberta who also believe in the successful future of our province.
Great People Make Great Landlords
Many members of our community have careers. They work hard in their jobs and play important roles in our cities and towns. They volunteer in things such as soccer and hockey programs and play active roles in our charities. They are also great landlords!
It’s important to remember that a large portion of landlords in our province are not faceless, soulless corporations. Many of our best rental properties are provided by independent business people.
Small residential landlords also play an important role in our local economy.
We spend a lot to maintain our properties. We hire plumbers, painters, electricians and plumbers. We go to our local stores to buy doors, windows, drywall and other things we need to maintain our properties. We buy curtains, blinds, and expensive appliances to make our renters happy.
It’s important to realize it’s essential to create rules that encourage terrific housing providers invested in the rental industry to continue to do so. Some people are already leaving the industry.
It wasn’t that long ago when we didn’t have enough rental properties in our market. If current landlords decide to leave the industry and we discourage new landlords to invest we are setting ourselves up for problems when things pick up again (and it will pick up).
Challenges For Alberta Landlords
Residential landlords faced a lot of challenges the past year and face challenges in 2017.
First of all, the economy is undergoing a difficult time and it’s had a large impact on everyone. Non-landlords need to realize that landlords are not immune to these economic challenges.
Small landlords face the problem of vacancies as it’s becoming harder to find qualified tenants. An Edmonton landlord recently wrote it took her three months to find tenants. That means three months of no income from her rental property.
Rents are also dropping in some areas. A Calgary landlord wrote in our Members Forum that she negotiated with potential renters and ended up dropping the rent and including a lot of costly incentives. She ended up having to max out her credit card just to fill her rental property.
Add in the fact that some of the larger property management companies can afford to offer lots of incentives to renters such a huge rent discounts and even big screen tvs and groceries and you can see the challenges small landlords face.
Even when the economy was booming small landlords had challenges. Now with current economic and market conditions it’s even tougher.
Small Landlords Are Important And Let’s All Work Together For a Healthy Rental Industry
We believe in Alberta and continue to invest here. However, it’s important for people to realize the challenges we face and our importance as stake-holders in our communities. Now is not the time for things such as “rent control” (which we discussed a few years ago) and “diminished security deposits.”
Alberta Landlords Are Important Stake-Holders In Our Province. We Provide an Important Service and A Key Role In Our Communities
In these challenging times we all need to work together to make our rental industry and our province stronger than ever. This means all stake-holders need to cooperate and map out a fair and smart strategy together. This also means making sure everyone understands the pressures small landlords face and how valuable we are.
By all of us coming together, and working together, we can make positive, important changes to help good landlords and good tenants. We believe the best is yet to come for Alberta landlords and all the great tenants in our province.
