Landlords need to satisfy a long list of responsibilities before being able to let out their property which is why an equally long list of property management tools are available to help them manage and automate these responsibilities. A landlord’s obligations will vary based on the nature of their property and their relationship with the tenants. To add to these responsibilities, landlords also have to deal with ongoing tasks such as rent collection and property maintenance.
Whilst property management tools are great for automating responsibilities, they tend to offer lighter solutions with respect to creating and managing contracts. Whilst the contracting stage might only be a small part of the tenancy, it is essential to offer complete protection to both the landlord and their tenants. As a result, landlords should also consider platforms which are focused solely on contracts such as Legislate. This article presents 5 reasons landlords should use contract management software:
1. Time and energy
Composing a contract is a slow process even when the terms and template are standardised. A lot of things can go wrong at this stage, especially when sections need to be tailored to a new situation. It can be tempting to remove or add clauses out of convenience but they can render the contract void ab initio. Streamlining the process with Legislate helps landlords save on average 3 hours per contract without compromising on the customisation of the terms to their requirements.
To find out how to create an assured shorthold tenancy with Legislate, sign up, watch our demo or read a tutorial.
2. The legislation is constantly evolving.
This affects the standards to which landlords must manage their property and how they can manage the tenant relationship. Not being up to date with the legislation can lead to void clauses or worse penalties. Legislate’s legal team keeps track of updates and implements the changes in the contracts accordingly whilst communicating their effects to landlords and tenants.
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3. Answering questions on contracts
Not many tenants will read their contracts thoroughly which means they usually won’t have questions on the contract. However, a landlord still needs to know the answers to all the possible questions and fully understand the tenants obligations in order to explain these to them if and when they ask. Legislate’s innovative contract visualisation makes the process more engaging for tenants which means they are aware of their obligations from the start and can answer questions by themselves. This in turn leads to fewer mid-tenancy surprises.
4. User experience
Tenants who use Legislate prefer the contracting experience because it is digital first and they can access their contracts at any time from any device. Legislate contracts are fair, independent, standardised and written in plain English which means that they are easy to understand and tenant questions are mainly practical as opposed to legal.
5. Insights
Landlords who use Legislate uncover bottlenecks in their contracting process faster and can run financial simulations which are tied to the contracts. Landlords can quickly simulate the impact of rent increases and payment dates on their total rent which means that they don’t need to maintain and update a complex spreadsheet manually.
Whilst property management tools are great for automating responsibilities, a contracting platform like Legislate allows landlords to automate their legal processes and compliance without compromising risk. A contract native approach offers a better user experience for all parties and enables the discovery of new business insights which otherwise would be trapped in filing cabinets or inboxes.
If you would like to take your contracts to the next level, request access, read our tutorials or book an introductory call if you would rather talk first!