Landlords and Tenants Together in Perfect Harmony

There is a disconnect between tenants and landlords, and here at Mashroom we plan to bridge that gap and get them communicating more for an all-round better rental experience.

Whether you’re a landlord or tenant, you might be wondering what teamwork has to do with this article or with you as a landlord or a tenant altogether. The art of teamwork relates to your and to your ability to work together.

It’s fair to say that the landlord/tenant relationship has a reputation for being somewhat tricky. Not quite Capulets and Montagues tricky. Not quite “beef on site” tricky. But, it’s most certainly strained. We’re not saying that every landlord and tenant want to go at it like hammer and tongs, but the consensus is that you do not care for each other.

It doesn’t need to be that way, however. More can be achieved together than it can apart. We’re not saying that you should hop and skip your way through meadows hand in hand. But a good landlord/tenant relationship is the foundation for an excellent rental experience for both parties.

Preceding reputations

Ok, ok. In the interest of fairness, some elements have played into the disconnect, but they mostly come from misunderstandings. Yes, some landlords are bad. And yes, some tenants are bad too.

Unfortunately, it only takes a few to ruin it for the many. Some tenants have been known not to look after a property or are regularly late with their payments, while some landlords have been known to neglect maintenance responsibilities and show a lack of empathy to their tenants.

It only takes one or two horror stories to set the agenda, and suddenly a reputation is born. And not like Word is Born; there’s no positive spin here. An article or two with a negative vibe is enough to shift the mindset — one that sees landlords and tenants displaying mistrust towards each other.

But it’s not quite as simple as that…

Other reasons why landlords and tenants don’t like each other?

The disconnect between landlords and tenants was never designed in a way to set them out against each other. However, industry methods in the lettings sector have, over time, led to discord between the two.

You’re probably well aware of how things work when you let or rent a property:

• most of the back and forth is handed to a letting agent
• the letting agent acts as a negotiator between the landlord and tenant
• there is lack of human contact
• there is often no relationship

In theory, the idea of having someone do the hard work for you sounds smashing. The reality, however, is somewhat different. Tenants usually think the agent only has the landlord’s best interest in mind, while landlords believe that agents just want to get their slice of commission. Lack of actual communication between the landlord and the tenant from very get-go sets the tone for the rest of the relationship.

If a property is professionally managed, that relationship never gets a chance to progress, and the landlord becomes a mythical character. And even if the landlord personally manages the property, the dynamic starts shakily, as initial negotiations were conducted by the agent.

The tenant/landlord/high-street agent hybrid has been going on for decades, and it’s only within the last five-or-so years that alternatives have come to the fore.

Many of them are happy to tell you how much landlords will save (of course, that is important), but they don’t explore the dynamic between landlords and tenants. It’s almost as if it’s a foregone conclusion that landlords and tenants will merely have to get on with each other.

There’s no, let’s call it, aftercare once a tenant moves into the landlord’s property. There are no relationship-building communities that help tenants and landlords work better together. And there’s no Mel Gibson and Danny Glover kicking butt and taking names.

Ok, so maybe that last one doesn’t apply. But you get our point — tenants and landlords really aren’t that different from each other, and if you want to nickname yourselves Chaos and Mayhem, we’re all for it.

Not so different after all

In reality, landlords and tenants both want a happy outcome from their experience. Landlords want to use their investment property to generate income, and tenants want to live in a place they can call home and live happily ever after — or until they move out.

When BT coined the phrase, “it’s good to talk”, they were trying to change the world… ok, they were trying to sell phones. But the sentiment still stands: communication is key. Without it, relationships begin to breakdown — and it’s no different for landlords and tenants.

Landlords and tenants aren’t two different entities — they’re both sets of people who, when they come together, can get more done than when they’re apart. Again, we’re not saying that you have to be best buds with each other. But more communication will enhance the experience for both parties, and you’ll likely find out that you’re not so different from each other.

How mashroom helps

At Mashroom, we are the only lettings platform that holds landlords and tenants in equal weight. And we’re using our platform to empower everyone to handle the entire rental process through us. Landlords can list their property, and tenants can find a new home.

But once a property is let, we don’t send you on your merry way. Instead, you manage everything through Mashroom. That means landlord/tenant communication happens on our platform, and we’re here to offer our support whenever it’s needed.

We’re creating a community of landlords and tenants, where they have an open line of communication backed up by Mashroom’s team of experts (feel free to call us mashys or mashroomers — it’s still a work in progress).

So why not sign up to our community, whether you’re a landlord or tenant, and jump on the train to Communityvile, where landlords and tenants are working together in, you guessed it, perfect harmony.

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