Driving around the streets of Saudi Arabia today, you’re sure to notice lots of construction all around from high rise towers, residential buildings to retail plazas and malls. However, once all these buildings are completed, they will need to be managed to preserve the structure and retain revenue for their investors and landlords, making money that all investors or landlords aim for building this structure in the first place.

However, Saudi Arabia is facing some major challenges that are affecting the property management and real estate industry today. The first challenge is the lack of a standardised system for measuring the quality of service provided by the property management companies. 

In Saudi Arabia, the government’s REGA (Real Estate General Authority) is responsible for regulating the real estate market and a portion of property management companies. However, the scheme does not provide any metrics to evaluate the performance of the property management companies. Instead, it only provides a de facto control mechanism by which the government can control the activities of property management companies. The law does not define the role of property management companies in detail. 

Since the implementation of the regulations, many properties management companies have tried to establish themselves in the market. The REGA has established a licensing system for property management companies. The REGA has issued a “Consolidated Standards and Procedure for Property Management Companies,” which is currently in its many revisions. Landlords are still permitted to hire their own staff to handle their rental management, if they so choose.

With a majority of landlord assuming they are cutting costs by avoiding hiring outsourced knowledgeable property management companies to manage their investments, are moving towards hiring their own staff to manage their properties and investments which usually consists of two-three staff members to manage multiple properties, from finding suitable tenants, closing lease agreement, rent collections, preventative and corrective maintenance, tenant relations, cleaning and security services, landscaping, fit-out supervisions and the list goes on and on, you can imagine; it can get messy quickly. 

Today’s problematic issue is that the majority of today’s property owners assume that managing a property only consists of making sure that rents are collected on time and that the HVAC systems are working properly, but on the upside that's not the only responsibilities of managing a property. 

Land  Sterling, having multiple offices in the UK, UAE and KSA, faces this issue on a daily basis, from landlords refusing to give us the time of day to discuss how we can help them from retaining their existing tenants to attracting new ones along with lowering operational overhead costs to energy efficiency system to help them generate additional revenue. This is caused by the old school mentality of doing everything themselves without any outside professional help.

From a landlord’s point of view, it’s not as simple as it once was, nowadays you cannot just stick your stamp on a lease and walk away, a landlord must maintain the property and satisfy the tenants needs. Landlords must now perform a cost-benefit analysis, weigh the risks and decide how to best protect their investment and their future. In doing so, it will always be in your best interest to work with a real estate professional. This is why Land Sterling offers a wide range of solutions to meet landlord's needs in today’s ever growing real estate market.

Another important misconception landlords tend to overlook when considering onboarding a property management company is they underestimate the importance of the use of digital CRM software to handle the day-to-day operations. From tenant requests, maintenance, due payables, water and electricity bills to as simple as billing for a service.

Yes, while it can all be done with the right staff, you will require lots of them to overlook every detail so they don’t miss any money making or saving potential and hacks. 

Land Sterling uses the latest technology to handle the day-to-day tasks to provide a smooth management experience for landlords and tenants. Land sterling is offering a free consultation to new landlords to learn more about tech options. Property Management companies can help landlords avoid common problems when a landlord fails to seek the services of a property management company, they risk losing a lot of money as a result of things like tenant delinquency, property damage, and legal problems. 

The author, Youcef Betraoui, is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Land Sterling.