Bit of personal one here and not directly to do with general Letting issues as such, but I want to write a quick blog how blown away all of the team at Swift Letting have been with the actions of our tenants* through the Coronavirus pandemic.

Not one tenant has tried to duck out of their responsibilities. Not one. Sure, quite a few are in finding it difficult and have been furloughed or paid off. The tourist aspect of Edinburgh means that certain sectors hit harder than others has reflected on our tenants but, by making sure we keep in touch with them and by encouraging communication, we have resolved every payment issue. Yes we are going to have quite a few tenants who, at the end of this, will owe rent but every single one will know exactly how much is owed and tenant, landlord and agent will be clear that we have agreed a manageable payment plan in place to get them back up to date. Lots of students who have given up their leases early because they are going home to go into isolation but let’s face it – Edinburgh and Super Noodles versus your mum and a one of those mysterious fridges that always refills itself with delicious snacks? Time to hightail it out of the City…

We knew that carrying out maintenance would prove a challenge through this period and whilst we wanted to keep everything as normal (not sure what the new ‘normal’ is, btw) we are, in many ways, guided by what our contractors and tenants are comfortable with access wise.

So, the small repairs we do all the time went on hold. In came the ‘urgent’ ones and by that I don’t necessarily mean just the obvious leaks and utility problems. Trust me, a new bed is fairly urgent if your old one has decided to give up the fight! We have tenants gamely attempting to put together delivered pieces of new furniture (read the instructions folks!), and in one heroic effort, a bed with far too many slats for my liking.  I won’t lie, we’re all a wee bit nervous about that one. Our landlords, despite some of them getting very little rent in, have immediately approved all repair requests and transferred money over to us

OK, what’s the point of this blog? Well, to say that sometimes tenants get a bit of a bad rap but to thank ours for working with us and making what could have been a nightmare into a manageable situation.

* Fear not, I’m going to do a blog for Landlords as well!

Written by Anne Sellar, April 2020