Choosing the right property maintenance provider

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It’s important to check the condition of your Christchurch rental property regularly and ensure maintenance issues are addressed. Any damage must be repaired as soon as possible. As a client of Cowdy and Co. Property Management, you’ll get a 4-monthly property inspection by your property manager with a detailed written report and photos.

As a landlord, you’re obliged to keep your property in a reasonable state of repair & cleanliness before the tenant moves in.

By having your property managed through Cowdy and Co, you can be sure that any contractor used to carry out maintenance will uphold the same values and high standard that we promise with our own property managers. At Cowdy and Co we see our contractors as an extension of our brand. We ensure they are registered, honest, reliable and insured. We need them to complete jobs quickly, while guaranteeing their work and at the same time notifying the tenants to arrange suitable access with appropriate notice.

How do we get the best property maintenance contractors?

We don’t just look for the cheapest deals when it comes to maintenance. Your Christchurch rental home is likely the most important investment you’ve got so we personally interview contractors and review their references before they carry out any work on a Cowdy-managed property.

When a maintenance contractor is on board, we’ll provide them with training on compliance with the Residential Tenancies Act.

The Contract of Service

Our contractors complete a Contract of Service Document that confirms the contractor’s:

  • responsibility for tools & machinery,
  • agreement to report any unusually or unexpected damage to the property,
  • reporting of a property that’s abandoned or vandalised,
  • Health & Safety compliance,
  • Responsibility for their own public liability insurance with an annual follow up to ensure this happens
  • invoices to Cowdy provide specific details of the job, and
  • full liability for any of their employees.

Being a property management company, we handle lots of transactions every day. This is why we audit our contractors regularly.

Negotiate Competitive Rates

To ensure charges are reasonable to our owners we negotiate competitive market rates with our contractors. Your property manager is always looking to protect your asset.

We want to avoid any conflicts of interest, so we make an effort to avoid using any friends of Cowdy staff as maintenance contractors. Invoices are approved by the property manager but paid by our Trust Accounts person to keep the whole process as transparent as possible.

Have any questions? Get in touch!

If you want more information about our property management processes just give us a call on (03) 355 6555 or send us an email.

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Keeping Christchurch Property Free From Contamination

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Cowdy’s Christchurch property Methamphetamine testing service

We’re dedicated to ensuring that as a landlord we will take care of what’s probably your biggest asset – your house. Being certified meth testers we can give you peace of mind that your property is free from meth contamination. Rental properties across New Zealand have become more popular over the past 10 years as sites to manufacture methamphetamine or ‘P’. Some of you will have seen a documentary on this growing problem on Campbell Live, TV3, on 15 July 2013.

The process of making this illegal, Class A drug, involves a lot of hazardous chemicals that contaminate properties and severely impact home value. The toxic residues can be absorbed into carpets, wall linings and even concrete, causing health issues for the occupants and serious damage to your house.

If you’re a property owner wanting to rent your house out, then you want to make sure that you’re protected against what’s unfortunately an epidemic in this country. Luckily, it’s not a huge undertaking to prevent this.

Preventing your home from contamination

Cowdy’s Property Managers are certified methamphetamine testers. We have been trained by our friends at MethSolutions to use Meth Sampling kits to test for contamination of houses. We then send these samples away to specialist labs and get results back to you within a few days. This is a great service for those buying or selling a house and gives peace of mind to tenants as well.

Our property managers are trained to be alert for any signs of Methamphetamine manufacture and use. This is another reason regular property inspections every three to four months are important.

This guide from Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment provides some useful information for landlords about their obligation to check the property for signs of being contaminated.

Talk to Cowdy & Co for the safest property management

Getting Cowdy & Co to manage your Christchurch rental means you’re covering all bases. With years of experience, we’ve seen it all and know how to deal with any issues that come up. As we’ve said before, our guarantee to you is that if we don’t meet any written service standards, the next 3 months of property management will be free – that’s how much we believe in our service!

Check us out on Facebook for regular updates and property news

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Meet some of Cowdy’s latest property managers

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We’re delighted to welcome two new staff members to the Cowdy Team, Property Managers Sarah Talbot and Stacey Parry.

Sarah Talbot

Sarah comes to Cowdy and Co with personal experience in not only managing rental homes but maintaining her own investment property. Sarah knows how important an asset your Christchurch property is and always strives to offer superior service to her clients.

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“My role is about more than just managing properties – it’s about building relationships and trust, along with the satisfaction of resolving issues quickly for both landlords and tenants. I’m committed to leasing property quickly to the very best tenant to ensure clients enjoy maximum returns on their investment.”

Sarah has already been busy with the Cowdy team managing Christchurch rentals. If you have a property that you’re interested in renting out, call Sarah on 03 355 6686 for a chat.

Stacey Parry

Stacey has been working in the property management industry since 2007. She’s got a great positive, professional attitude and a reputation for offering incredible service and expertise.

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Dedicated to providing the best possible service to all those she deals with.

Stacey believes that “the role of a property manager is to ensure that both property owners and tenants feel that their needs are being met at all times. I’m good at problem solving, have an eye for detail and am passionate about making everyone I deal with feel like I’m doing my utmost for them.”

Stacey makes sure that both property owners and tenants are kept in the loop with everything including maintenance, tenancy issues and payment.

Stacey would love to hear from you! Give her a ring on 03 355 6686.

Thinking about renting your Christchurch property?

You may see Sarah and Stacey around Christchurch managing their clients’ properties or around Cowdy & Co.’s office. Feel free to contact either for a chat about your property management needs.

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Using a Property Management Company for your Christchurch Rental Property

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When managed well, renting out your property can provide fantastic income. It also allows you to travel overseas for a longer duration without completely uprooting from New Zealand.

Being a landlord for the first time can be daunting; choosing the right tenant, advertising, and sorting out tenancy agreements & bond. Once the property is rented, there’s still plenty of ongoing work involved in maintaining the house and surrounding area. If a tenant has an issue or forgets to pay rent this can take a fair bit of time sorting out.

A Property Manager Removes The Headache Of Renting Your Christchurch Home

With this in mind, using a property management agency in Christchurch is highly recommended. Compare the cost of property management fees with the amount of time and stress you have to deal with and it quickly becomes clear that it’s worth going through an agency.

We can’t speak for other agencies, but we know with Cowdy there’s some huge benefits of having an agency take care of the property:

We’ve seen it all before

Our certified team has a wealth of experience in and knowledge of Christchurch property management. We know all the typical issues that might come up during the tenancy and how to fix them. If you ever have any questions about being a Landlord we can answer these straight away.

We’ll interview each applicant to determine suitability, as well as running a thorough reference and credit check.

We Take The Stress Out Of Collecting Rent

Cowdy ensures that the tenant pays rent for your Christchurch home in advance via automatic payment. This will usually be on a weekly or fortnightly basis. Funds are initially transferred to our Trust Account which is voluntarily audited, ensuring your funds are protected.

We deposit the rent into your nominated account on the 1st and 15th of the month (or closest working day). This will have our fees already taken out – you don’t have to worry about doing a thing!

Maintenance isn’t your problem anymore

Tenants need to report any repairs required. We’ll have one of our highly-trusted tradesmen repair the issue. If the cost is going to exceed $400, we’ll contact you first. If the tenant has caused damage to the property, don’t worry – we’ll follow them up for payment of this.

Property Managers With Integrity

Cowdy operate on the core principles of trust, honesty and integrity. We understand that your home is likely your most-valuable asset and take this into consideration with everything we do. This means finding a great tenant, maintaining the property to an excellent standard and processing payments in a timely manner.

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Interested in knowing more?

We’d love to chat and answer any questions you might have on the property management process. If you’re looking to rent our your Christchurch property, why not make it easy on yourself? Hundreds of others already do…

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