Who Does the Maintenance in a Rent to Rent Deal?

The question about maintenance and who is responsible is a variation of a common theme. 

• If the fridge breaks, who fixes it?
• If the washing machine breaks, who fixes it?
• What if a tenant destroys their furniture, who replaces it?
• What if the boiler breaks? Who pays for the engineer?
• What is a water pipe bursts? Does the landlord pay?

My answer every single time is - it's up to you.  You can negotiate anything you want.  This is your deal and your business.  Who do you want to pay for things?

Now, of course the first answer that comes to your mind is, of course I want the landlord to pay then.  If I get to chose I'd rather the landlord spends the money.

That's great and sounds good in theory and you can totally propose that to the landlord.  But why should he accept that deal?  What are you offering in return?

The key part of every single Rent to Rent deal - and honestly the key part in every single business offer - is understanding how you are adding value to someone else's life.  No one will want to pay you if you aren't offering them value in return (and essentially the landlord is paying you any of the profit you get because he could totally just go and do this himself). 

So if you just go to the landlord - hey I'm going to pay you less than market rent, you have to do all the maintenance and cover all the costs and I'm going to manage your property...it might be a bit of a struggle.

If you say - hey, I understand that you are really struggling to get the right tenants in the property.  Your last few tenants have left with arrears and left the property a bit of a mess.  And I know it's super hard to manage a property from 50 miles away.  I can make it so that you don't have to worry about whether or not you will get paid in full every month because I will be the one guaranteeing those monthly payments.  And you won't have to drive back and forth every time something needs doing because I'm going to take care of all the management.  I pay £XXX every month.  All you need to do is keep up with your normal mortgage and insurance payments and cover any regular maintenance.  I'll take care of everything else and you'll never have to worry about a missed rental payment or messy tenant again.

Now that second one is a lot more compelling for a landlord - especially if you have taken the time to get to know him and understand what his problem really is.  Then you just have to show him how you can solve his problem and if his problem is big enough and you can provide enough value then away you go.

Now - I actually take care of all the maintenance in my rent to rent properties.  I prefer it that way.  It gives me more value that I'm adding to the owner in exchange for me paying a lower monthly rental amount.  And it keeps me in control of the quality and timing of any maintenance. 

The tenants are going to be calling me when something is broken.  I don't want to have to wait and hope the landlord hurries up and fixes it or worry if he's going to send a reputable engineer to solve the problem.  I want to make sure it's done on my terms to keep my tenants happy.  Because if my tenants are not happy they won't be paying me the rent.

I know some of my students agree to pay the first £50 or £100 of maintenance every month.  This takes the hassle of the small every day repairs off the landlords shoulders but also mitigates the risk of huge maintenance bills for the rent to renter.

At the end of the day I suggest you decide what works best for you and your business and keep it as simple as possible. 

And always remember - where am I adding the most value to my landlord in order for me to get profit in return.