There is a lot that goes into being a landlord, and many different approaches people can take when renting their property to other people.
With reforms to the renting sector and changes to the relationship between landlords and tenants, effective sector-specific training is more important than ever in ensuring not only legal compliance but a healthy dialogue that minimises the need for arbitration.
This is what makes dispute resolution a very important set of skills, even for landlords who have a very good relationship with their tenants and rarely have any issues.
It is not just about avoiding arguments and ensuring that any problems on either the landlord or tenant side are fixed promptly to the satisfaction of everyone, but it also is a particular way to establish and retain a good relationship, which in turn retains good tenants.
There are three core components to dispute resolution, and if they are put at the forefront of how any issues are managed irrespective of where the blame lies, communication can be more effective, constructive and positive going forward.
The first principle is fairness, which is simply to treat every complaint without fear or favour, judging every issue on its facts and being consistent with how you handle specific issues.
There should not be a case where one person feels like they are getting worse treatment because of who they are than someone dealing with the same problem. Not only is this morally abject, it could potentially lead to serious repercussions.
The second step is to focus on making any issue right. Look at what happened, identify any responsibility the landlord has over the issue, look at the ideal outcome for the tenant and take appropriate steps to fix the problem.
If there is a boiler issue, for example, the landlord has a responsibility to book a Gas Safe inspection every year and organise any repairs to appliances and pipework.
Finally, the third principle is to treat every outcome as a learning experience. Everything can be learned from in terms of what went right and what went wrong to improve outcomes and maintain a productive, constructive dialogue.