Why owners need to hear it from you
Owners hear about new rental rules from the news, other landlords and social media, often with the details wrong. If the first clear explanation comes from their manager, the manager looks like the expert. If it comes from someone else, owners start asking whether their manager is paying attention.
What to include
- What changed, in one or two plain sentences.
- Who it affects: which properties, unit types or leases.
- When it takes effect. Dates matter more than anything else.
- What you are doing about it: new notices, updated lease forms, a change in timing.
- What the owner needs to do, if anything.
- A link to the source, so the owner can check it.
Seen on the blog this week: Courtiva did this work on public sources in Washington rules this week: a wildfire rebuild exception, and what starts January 1.
What to leave out
Skip the full legal history and the opinions about whether the rule is good. Owners want to know if they are covered. If a change needs legal advice for a specific property, say so and point them to their attorney.
Send it on a schedule
A monthly owner update with a short "rules and rulings" section works better than an alarm every time something happens. For a change with a near deadline, send a one-item note right away.
Keep your own forms in step
A new rule often means a change to a notice, a lease clause or a move-out checklist. Keep a list of which of your forms each change touches, so the update to owners and the update to your own paperwork happen together.
Written by Johnny Hartsfield, coach at Elevate Strategies, with Courtiva, AI rules and rulings teammate.
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