About Us
Properties Guru specialise in
Property Management of rental / Letting
Sectional Title and Home Owners’ Associations
Community Scheme Management
Sales: Residential | Commercial | Retirement Villages | Care Centres | Developments
Debt collecting
At Properties Guru we understand that our clients have different needs and therefore offer a number of options as detailed in the following packages:
1. We can advise and guide you on all aspects of letting your property. This will include preparing your property for letting and a full explanation of your legal obligations should you undertake to let your property. Letting your property is an excellent and proven investment but not without risk. We will fully explain these to you.
2. Our clients can register online to access their account and billing info, update details, log maintenance requests or queries online.
3. We are qualified registered estate agents with valid Fidelity Fund Certificates. Agents, managers, and key personnel hold NQF4 and NQF5 certification as required by the EAAB and our staff is fully trained in all property related matters.
4. Our specialist property rental division are managed by trained and experienced personnel who are committed both to caring for your property and maximizing your financial return.
5. Whether you have a single property, or a large portfolio, Properties Guru provides you with the results you need and the service you deserve.
6. Produces a valuable, regular income flow – a return on your capital investment!
7. We ensure your property is always occupied and secure, thereby reducing the stress of a vacant property.
8. Our management team ensure rent is collected on time, arrange repairs if needed and give a personal touch.
9. Entry/exit inspections are conducted when the property becomes available for rental. Should you require additional inspections it can be arranged at an additional fee. These inspections are uploaded with photos onto our web portal for your perusal. A quote will be generated on any necessary repairs for your convenience. Necessary deductions will be carried over to the tenant.
10. We arrange for an appraisal of the property and provide you with free initial advice as to the suitability of the property for letting and the amount of rent likely to be achieved.
Your decision depends on whether you want to remain in charge of your own rent collection and inspections or leave the management entirely to us.
Why do business with us
We extensively market on various online property portals, including our own website, www. Propertiesguru.co.za, which receives several views daily. We make use of social media platforms and “To Let” boards are placed at available properties. Our excellent rent collection success rate is due to our strict vetting procedure. Our aim is to maximise your income and minimise the hassle of handling it all yourself. You choose which level of service is tailor-made for you. We manage several sectional title units and rental units. Established in 2020, Properties Guru have served the Real Estate needs of property owners in and around the Western Cape with commitment and dedication. We have been servicing Real Estate needs since 1989.
We are socially connected and 0ur systems are state of the art, allowing us to manage all aspects of our client’s property. We invest continuously in our systems and technology, to bring clients amongst others, debit orders, eft payments, email statements, SMS notifications, maintenance logging and total control of their building’s financial position. Properties Guru provides Tenants and Landlords full access to their property’s financial affairs and other important documentation. We are registered debt collectors and place strong emphasis on collection procedures and credit control. We provide a variety of payment options for clients to make rental payments hassle free, including debit orders, efts and Pay@ outlets. We have staff dedicated to arranging maintenance, be it an emergency or only requests for quotes, and calls can be logged online 24 hours a day. Our staff are fully trained and experienced in our fields of expertise. We offer a unique one stop property service and 95% of our business is referral based.
1. MARKETING VETTING & PLACEMENT
? Marketing & placement Collect 1st month rent & deposit Completion of lease owner
? Monthly statement to tenants & monthly rent collection
? Full debt collection service disbursements
? Entry/Exit Inspections Maintenance
? Management Deposit refund finalisation
? All tenant queries online access
? Dedicated Principal hold deposit in Trust account
? Annual lease review
? Placement & Part Management
2. HOW WE DO IT
Our lease contracts are continuously updated with current legislation. Once the tenant is approved the lease is drafted and signed by all parties concerned. We have a state-of-the-art accounting system which we continuously invest in, to bring clients total control of their property’s financial position. All transactions will be duly shown on your monthly statement of account, including tenant’s payment profile. Statements should be retained for income tax purposes. So long as we have funds to do so, we pay, where applicable, current outgoings such as bond, rates, insurance premiums and any service charges or similar disbursements and account to you monthly. Please note that bank charges are levied for all third-party payments. Although we shall do our best to query any obvious discrepancies, it must be understood that we are entitled to accept and pay without question demands and accounts which appear to be in order. Where we are authorized to make disbursements prior to a Tenant being placed, you would be required to pay the amount upfront. Should your tenant fall into arrears we will endeavour to inform you as soon as possible.
We are registered debt collectors and as debt collectors, will take responsibility for chasing rent payments on your behalf. You will be fully informed regarding progress. If we are unsuccessful in collecting the arrears, we will advise you of the courses of action open to you and take your instructions. It is not in our interests to have a tenant in arrears, because we also do not receive our commission. Regardless of this, we will see the matter to a conclusion on your behalf. Please be aware that we cannot guarantee that you will always receive your rent either on time or indeed at all, although rest assured our arrear cases are very low due to our stringent checking procedures. We must also advise that all actions taken to collect rent are governed by the rental Housing Act and subject to certain tenants’ rights. If it is necessary for an attorney to take action, this will become your responsibility and our debt collection procedure will terminate.
3. COMPLETION OF LEASE MONTHLY STATEMENTS TO TENANTS AND OWNER DISBURSEMENTS (only applicable to full management package)
We suggest that a month-to-month lease is signed with your tenant, the Consumer Protection Act governs a fixed term lease agreement (for instance a 12-month lease) and is not beneficial to the Landlord in the sense that it prohibits you from cancelling the lease prior to the expiry and also delays the process of debt collection should your tenant fail to make payment by the 1st of the month. The law requires you to provide the tenant with 20 business days’ notice to remedy a breach whereas with a month-to-month lease we only have to provide 7 days’ notice to remedy a breach. We can then cancel the lease thereafter. However, as the landlord you still have the right to determine a lease period and we will do the lease according to your specification as detailed on the Authority to lease. Once application is approved the tenant is required to pay their deposit within 24 hours to secure the property. We do not stop marketing the property until payment is received in full. You are kept informed during this entire process.
4. COLLECTING 1ST MONTH’S RENT AND DEPOSIT
We undertake to inspect your property on entry/exit of each tenant in order to ascertain damages and report on the general condition of the property. A written report, including photos, will be submitted to you after each inspection. In the event of us noticing that repairs may be required, we will obtain quotations for the work to be carried out on your behalf and/or be deducted from the tenant’s deposit. Should you require any further inspections to be done during the lease period this may be requested at an additional fee. We have a dedicated maintenance team who deals with all day-to-day maintenance matters. All requests may be logged online 24 hours a day. Emergency and minor wear and tear maintenance will be automatically dealt with as per the authority to lease signed. At the end of the lease, after determining the extent of damages (if any) and applying the deposit to any unpaid accounts, the balance will be refunded, except in cases where the owner holds the deposit.
A Faults list is also completed by the tenant and must be returned within 7 days from occupation. Anything not noted will be fixed and deducted from the deposit upon termination of lease. For your convenience we attend to all tenant queries. In most instances we are able to handle all queries without your involvement, and only in cases where we aren’t able to resolve a query, we’ll contact you. Your details will never be supplied to a tenant or any other 3rd party. (Unless you have opted for placement and part management.) Our online service provides owners with full access to their property’s financial affairs 24/7. Documents such as lease agreements and inspections are also available for viewing. An experienced portfolio manager will be assigned to you at the commencement of the lease. They will be your first point of call to provide you with expert advice and assistance in the management of your property. Deposits are held in our trust account and in accordance with the requirements of the Estate Agency Affairs Board and will remain the tenant’s money throughout the tenancy. ** rente op die deposit en aan wie word dit betaal?**The lease will be reviewed annually in order to establish if the tenant will be remaining in the property and to negotiate rental increases in line with current economic circumstances, all to the best interest of the owner.
5. FULL MANAGEMENT PACKAGE
The following service is only applicable to the Full Management Package:
ENTRY / EXIT INSPECTIONS
MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT
DEPOSIT REFUND FINALISATION
ALL TENANT QUERIES ONLINE ACCESS DEDICATED PORTFOLIO MANAGER HOLD THE DEPOSIT IN A TRUST ACCOUNT ANNUAL LEASE REVIEW — ADD-ON’S TO FULL MANAGEMENT OR PLACEMENT & PART MANAGEMENT PACKAGES
6. IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO KNOW
It is essential that you maintain suitable homeowners’ insurance on your property to cover you against any unfortunate disasters such as geyser bursts etc. Should the property become vacant we strongly suggest that you immediately advise your insurers, as any claims arising during the property being vacant might not be covered in your policy.
It is important that you maintain your bond payments and or any utility/levy/rates accounts not paid by us on your behalf.
Our management function does not include the supervision of the property when it is vacant. Although, in the normal course of letting, visits may be made to the property by our staff. In any market being a landlord can come with risk. If your tenant does not make payment of the rental and refuses to move out of your property your options may be limited. Getting a defaulting tenant out of your property sooner rather than later is of extreme importance, but who has funds available when you are already out of pocket due to no rental income? An unopposed eviction order could cost in excess of R30,000 and if opposed, you are looking at a minimum of R50,000 just on legal fees. Once an eviction order is obtained costs for the sheriff to serve the documents or assistance with the removal of the occupant/s and their belongings will be payable by the landlord. In the event of a tenant that decides to appeal the eviction order a new legal process will start and there will be legal costs involved.
7. OUR SALES DEPARTMENT
We hold current valid Estate Agency Affairs Board fidelity fund certificates. We are compliant with EAAB’s requirements for the issuing of fidelity fund certificates and the operation of our trust account. Should you, as the landlord, decide to sell your property, our expert team will assist you in:
appraise your property
advise you of any repairs or upgrade you need to attend to and assist therewith
advertise the property on all our platforms
negotiate the best possible price for you
arrange signature of the Offer to Purchase
assist the potential buyer to apply for a bond at all major Financial Institutions
assist you and the buyer with all FICA requirements
keep all parties up to date with the progress of the transaction through the appointed attorneys, until date of registration of the transaction
after-sale assistance to all parties
We are aware of the very strict new FIC Act that came into play on 24 February 2023 and will guide you through the documentation and information that the appointed attorneys will require from both the seller and the buyer at the starting point of the transaction.