Why Property Management Needs To Change (and How)

Digital solutions have streamlined many factors of our lives, from hailing a cab to organising our life, but strangely, traditional property management is lagging behind. 

The UK’s property market is seeing some of the biggest changes for a generation. With the prices of property pushing many off the ladder, and the cost of renting climbing steadily. So, providing value for money with a property management service has never been more important. 

But how does property management need to change, and what are the driving factors behind it?

On-demand service

We’ve become accustomed to accessing information at the push of a button, and in the age of social media, we expect a quick response too. Residents of estates are increasingly expecting that issues are dealt with quicker, and they don’t necessarily have the time to make a phone call or visit the front desk.

It might be handling an incoming delivery, or reporting a maintenance issue, but having an easy to access digital portal is the new face of great customer service for property management.

Communication

Letters and notice boards have always been the traditional ways for property managers to communicate with their residents about important developments. From changes to the way, deliveries are being handled or asking people not to leave rubbish outside the door to the bin room. 

Notice boards are still useful, but they can easily become cluttered with old notices, and people can easily ignore the information on there, even if it is presented in a clear fashion.

Although the notice board still serves a purpose, especially for communication between residents, urgent updates require a more proactive approach. Embracing modern communication methods, such as property management software, gives you a mouthpiece to effectively communicate with residents. 

Efficiency

Most property managers still use paper ledgers for most features of their job. From signing in guests or making a note of tasks to do; your average block manager or concierge most likely uses a mixture of different pads, spreadsheets and post-it notes to manage their day to day tasks. 

Although having a well-established system means that you might work well with your current procedure, there is, no doubt, some room for improvement.  

Keeping track of upcoming events or tasks in an easy to use a calendar, and having an integrated system of logging data is much more efficient than having multiple ledger books. This also means that colleagues can easily access data in your absence. So if you fall ill or have a day off there is no trying to work out which notebook has the information about where the water leak is!

Data Protection

In the age of GDPR, data security is more important than ever, with breaches carrying huge financial penalties. Keeping your data backed up and secure, in accordance with the law isn’t a luxury any more. If you are using multiple paper ledgers and notebooks and then moving that data to your spreadsheets then you’re exposing yourself to different opportunities for data breaches.

And, with most property management services dealing with the residential details of on average hundreds of residents, data security is critical. Remove as many potential opportunities for a data breach, and you’ll minimise your potential for falling foul of data laws.

Choosing your property management tool

Property management software should allow you to make the changes to provide an even better service to your residents. From keeping on top of developments in the property to sending communications and updates, investing in block management software is essential in the modern age.

Software such as Lobital is designed to make the life of a property manager easier and more efficient, as well as ensuring data compliance.

Book your free trial today to see how you could level up your service!