Compliance in the rental property industry is no laughing matter. The Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA), the Rental Housing Act, the Property Practitioners Act, the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) and the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (PIE) all add significantly to rental asset managers’ workload.

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And the penalties for falling short of total compliance range from serious fines to jail time.

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Despite the sizable increase in risk and workload that compliance has added to rental property management in recent years, very few rental management businesses are receiving proportionately higher compensation. Understandably, this – together with its fiddly and time-consuming nature – has made compliance one of the industry’s least favourite responsibilities.

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The benefits of compliance for the rental industry

Just because compliance is unpopular doesn’t mean it isn’t a good thing for the rental property management industry. In fact, there are a number of very important benefits that compliance brings.

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The first is its positive influence on the professionalisation of the industry, which has been expanding at an unprecedented rate. Without the establishment of professional bodies and the implementation of progressive legislation, it would be easy for rental management to descend into uncontrolled chaos.

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By holding rental professionals to a higher standard, compliance not only helps to maintain order, mitigate risk and promote responsible business practices; it also weeds out the “bad eggs” that could tarnish the industry’s reputation.

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The result is an industry that is increasingly professional, respected and valued – and when value increases, so too does compensation.

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Compliance’s biggest pain points

There’s no denying that compliance can be a painful prospect, however. The requirements are fiddly, time-consuming, and repetitive, and complicated enough that it’s easy to miss a critical step here and there.

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This is particularly true for rental asset managers with large portfolios working across multiple disconnected tools and platforms. These invariably create incohesive workflows with unavoidable blind spots and bottlenecks that make tracking, measuring and managing compliance virtually impossible.

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To make things worse, regulations are updated and amended from time to time, disrupting any established workflows that may be in operation. Under the circumstances, it’s no wonder compliance has become a stressful subject.

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Fortunately, it doesn’t have to stay that way.

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What does good compliance require?

We’ve done a lot of research into the most effective ways to achieve good compliance, and one thing has always come out on top: manageability.

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What do we mean by manageability? Having the right tools and processes in place that make it possible to:

• Reduce waste through optimisation.
• Make confident decisions using accurate and up-to-date information.
• Adapt when necessary thanks to better visibility and strategic control.
• Enhance productivity and satisfaction through better workflows and higher morale.
• Align all efforts and activities with business goals.

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Good manageability makes it possible to successfully oversee all the moving parts of compliance in a rental management business, ensuring all requirements are met, accurately and on time, with total transparency and accountability.

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Did you know? Compliance is one of the most resource-intensive activities of rental asset management. By optimising compliance, you can greatly improve your ability to handle more mandates without requiring increased resources, enabling you to scale your operations – and your profits!

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The easy answer

If you’re struggling to get into a good compliance rhythm, you’re not alone. Our WeconnectU surveys have consistently shown that compliance remains a key concern for rental asset managers. However, we’ve also seen the impact our Rental Asset Management solution has for our clients.

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Our 2023 survey showed 94% of our clients experienced significance improvements to their business’ compliance as a direct result of using WeconnectU. A further 95% reported improvements in their business’ manageability, with 81% enjoying greater scalability and 72% achieving higher profits.

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WeconnectU’s Rental Asset Management Solution

We like to believe that our Rental Asset Management suite is as effective as it is because we’ve been where you are, and we’ve experienced what you’re going through.

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We created our suite of compliance tools specifically to solve the pain points of the South African regulatory environment. The result includes everything from up-to-the-moment compliance checklists and planners to real-time compliance status monitoring with full interdepartmental transparency.

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Best of all, our compliance functionality is seamlessly integrated with the rest of our end-to-end rental asset management solution – at no extra charge. This enables rental asset managers to effortlessly include (and even automate) compliance tasks as part of their daily workflows.

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Benefits of our solution include greater:

• Security: All documents are stored securely in the cloud, eliminating the risk of loss.
• Accessibility: Documents are accessible to all approved users with the relevant permissions.
• Consolidation: All approved users have access to the latest and most accurate documents stored within the solution. These can be effortlessly emailed directly from the solution as required.
• Cost savings: Auditors can be granted direct access to WeconnectU, enabling them to view all necessary compliance documents without any back-and-forth requests required. This reduces the time spent on your audit and subsequently lowers audit costs.
• Manageability: Advanced filters and reporting offer a quick way to gain an overview of areas requiring compliance documents, enabling faster, more efficient and more effective management.

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Say goodbye to dropped balls, missed dates and inaccurate or incomplete information. WeconnectU offers seamless, streamlined, efficient compliance that delivers complete manageability, visibility and control.