 Hello everybody, welcome to today's webinar. My name is Kimberley and I've been with the RTA for over 10 years. I'm an accredited mediator and have over eight years experience in conflict resolution. Most recently I've been working in training and quality with the RTA front line staff. I have an extensive understanding of common tenancy issues, common disagreements and how owners, tenants and agents can see things differently. Now, starting productive conversations and maintaining good relationships with your tenant or property manager or property owner is vital throughout a tenancy. In dispute situations where priorities and perspectives differ, it can be challenging to find ways to diffuse the situation, keep communication channels open and address the issue successfully. I'm here today to provide you with an insight into common tenancy disputes, causes of conflict in tenancies that we see here at the RTA and provide you with some practical tips for navigating difficult tenancy conversations. Now what's on for today? My goal for today is that you will gain a better understanding of conflict to help you have better conversations when it comes to those tricky tenancy topics. I have interactive polls along the way to guide you or to guide my conversations and to help make the content more relevant. Now at the RTA we know most tenancies run smoothly. Today is really about sharing insights into a range of common tenancy disagreements and providing an objective and perspective and practical tips to help you handle and resolve issues more confidently. Now it is always recommended that you seek independent legal advice for specific tenancy issues. So I'm going to start. We do this at every webinar. I'm just going to gauge who I've got out there in the audience today. I'll launch that poll. You should see that on your screen now. This just gives me an idea of who's out there because it's still changing now. I'll leave it open for a moment longer. Okay I'm going to close that poll off now. Brilliant. So we've got representation across a number of groups there. Property managers and landlords and we've got others from community support organisations etc. Hello again out there to all of you. Now the biggest driver in communication. I'll close off that poll. Should have been closed. Let's have a look here. Looks of though it's still appearing on your screen. What's going on? Can everybody see the slide there? Got some technical difficulties. We've never had this happen before. I might try and share that poll and then see if no slide. Thanks guys. Thanks for answering me out there. I'll share it and then see if that will close it off your screen. Got the poll results. Okay all right. Might shops stop sharing the screen for a moment and see if that kicks it back into gear. One moment. Okay I might try again. We'll see if we can flick across. I'll flick through the screens. Not too sure. Bear with me one moment. There we go. We're back online. Thanks everybody for your patience. Got to love technology. Okay now the biggest driver of dispute resolution requests over the past three years has been bond disputes and claims above the bond and that's around 65% of dispute cases received at the RTA. Now at the RTA we always encourage self-resolution as the first option but we do appreciate it's not always possible to resolve every tendency issue on your own and we understand that there are situations outside of your control and that's why the RTA's free and impartial dispute resolution service exists. Now our conciliators do not determine who's right or wrong and they cannot make decisions about disputes and or even enforce rules or regulations. The process itself is voluntary and we people cannot be compelled to take part but the good news is as you can see on your screen that the RTA conciliators resolve 70% of dispute cases where parties participate which is great news for those of you who need support in this space. Now I just want you to stop for a moment. Think about your most recent tenancy dispute experience or a tenancy related conflict. What impact did it have on you? What impact did it maybe have on the business? Your health? Your reputation? Work-life balance? Or even on your relationships? Could there have been one thing you could have said differently, done differently or thought about differently that could have saved you time? Stress and even money. Today I'm here to help you find another tool or another strategy that one extra thing that could help you avoid disputes and resolve disagreements. Just got a lag here in terms of the slides there we go they're coming up again great okay so the diagram on your screen there that you should be able to see breaks down the types of disputes received at the RTA. Now we find the large percentage of bond claims are often the culmination of unresolved or unaddressed issues throughout the tenancy or they are a result of a lack of communication at the end of the tenancy. Now having the conversations in the lead up to the end of the tenancy including a clear outline of others intentions and the processes that should or will be followed can save time and will lead to more agreements. Discussions about a bond refund and any claims or differences in opinion should be had before either party lodges the bond and look in my experience guys lodging a bond refund just to get in first more often than not jeopardizes the relationship okay it leads to disputes that could have potentially been avoided. No one likes hearing about the submission of a bond refund from the RTA rather than from the other party to the bond it generally just gets people offside right away. Now as if finding the right words isn't hard enough there are many barriers to communication as well and I've listed a few there on your screen take a bit of a read something to consider is your environment if you're in a busy loud office are you actually hearing correctly can you be heard remember simple things such as asking a person is now a good time to chat can help set the right tone for the conversations. The other party might be an area with poor phone reception they may not have access to the agreement to the internet or they may be at work conversations really ideally need to take place in a mutually agreed time okay and not when one person is busy or distracted when people feel ambushed or at a point where they feel they have no other choice but to say yes things can become problematic. Now emotions are another big barrier have you moved house lately it's a nightmare and it's really really stressful tenants try keeping your emotions in check or be honest about how you're feeling and maybe preference hey I might be coming across as as rushed or a bit pushy at the moment agents owners avoid you know becoming desensitized to what really is your daily norm put up a picture or a prompter maybe on your desk to keep things in perspective for you when you're dealing with tenants remind each other in the office so I've listed some common barriers that we observe in tenancy disputes take a read now lack of rapport and trust is a big one of course the better the rapport and trust the more likely the success of a difficult conversation where there are no feelings of say hidden agendas or a power or interest struggle open and honest conversations really can flourish now I understand in your industry it really can be hard to establish rapport and trust you're often have little to do with each other initially then the tenancy plays out you don't really speak to each other again until there's a difficult conversation to be had or a serious issue how do you reconnect again be mindful of re-establishing that rapport when you re-engage with the other person but my best advice guys look would really be to always be yourself don't be one person at sign up and a different person when you need to have that difficult conversation set or confirm expectations and always do what you say you're going to do lack of information and knowledge another big one now knowledge and information opens up choices it opens up options and it really does open up communication lines the amount of conversations we hear with customers on a daily basis where they haven't spoken to the other party to get an idea of where they stand they haven't reviewed their tenancy agreement or even reflected on the timeline of events before lodging a dispute in bond disputes we see people claiming bonds before where before there's a discussion even had about the exit condition of the home now in terms of poor communication skills we know communication could be verbal it can be in writing a lot of the time we see it's due to a lack of following up with the other person and just simply keeping them up to date now we're going to talk more about communication and assumptions and avoidance now if avoidance now avoidance is really any actions a person takes to escape from difficult thoughts and feelings now these behaviours can occur in many different ways and may include actions that a person does or does not do when we avoid difficult conversations it really does lead to disagreements it leads to a loss of rapport or a breakdown in the relationship now some consequences can be direct and some are more indirect now we know the great news about avoiding things is them there might be short-term relief okay you might feel an immediate relief from stress or workload pressures but the long-term consequences really do outweigh those short-term gains now getting to the bottom of avoidance really will help you navigate your approach moving forward the more you tackle these little things the more confidence you grow and hopefully you'll break a habit or really just better understand your triggers that could be causing your conflict or avoidance so on your screen I've listed the common tenancy discussions that we find are most likely to be avoided these issues not discussed become a catalyst for disputes seen at the RTA I'm just going to launch a poll and I just really want to find out in your experience what types of tenancy conversations have you found to be the most challenging so I know that you all know your rights and obligations or how to find the information but often our emotions fears and triggers can lead to our actions or our inactions I so often hear well they didn't say anything about it the whole tenancy or I've overlooked so many things this really isn't fair the main thing to remember is to not avoid having those conversations up front tackle the issues or the tasks that you're avoiding in real time and be consistent this is the key I'm going to close off that poll now let's take a look at what some of you are feeling out there in terms of what you're finding to be the most challenging I'll close that off there I might share that poll for you on your screen yes I can see the first one there in terms of it's a big one here and I find it is really as I said the catalyst for bond disputes in the end so 31% of you are saying that the entry condition report differences at the start of a tenancy are often something that you find most challenging and I think it would be fair to say a lot of this is because you're time poor so you've moved people in you've done your start of a tenancy you've signed them all up and often then you know it's you're moving on to the next and often this is really where you need to stop and consider that really if you can't agree in the beginning or you don't come to an agreement how are you going to agree in the end it's about stopping and really focusing on this and I know it's easier said than done try maybe even just going out to the property are you going around in circles on the phone with the other person go out to the property seek to understand that difference in opinion first hand now if you if you do this and you reach an agreement document the agreement or the changes you don't have to do a whole new report again and get everybody to sign it attach the relevant details or the agreement to the signed entry condition report and just get everybody to initial and sign etc agents talk to your owners be upfront with them with relation to the changes and fair wear and tear that happens within a home don't let them get a nasty surprise when they get an entry condition report and they see a tenant's comments okay also to I know another one is the entry condition for a new tenant or a new owner I should say I know that sometimes it's hard to have a conversation around the cleanliness of a home with a new owner who's clean the property themselves it's really hard to have that conversation with them and say hey look you know this is kind of our standard that as a baseline but really talking from experience here avoiding that conversation is not going to help anybody and certainly you know you might be worried about having that conversation upfront but then you know it will lead to disagreements in terms of the condition of the property with your tenants and this will continue to evolve over time the more tendencies you have if you're not starting from that clean slate in the beginning it's always the best no matter what to agree on the on clean in the beginning it sets those expectations now tenants advice for you out there only write what is not already on the report otherwise if you're duplicating information the key differences may be overlooked and therefore not addressed okay that's a really big one there I'm sure property managers and owners out there you'll agree okay so I'm going to close that poll now we'll see hopefully it'll flick across yes our PowerPoint is working again that's great news okay so did you actually know that our brains are designed to make assumptions so our brain searches for patterns predictability and the reason why it does this is because ultimately they can find a predictability or an existing pathway or pattern it saves your brain energy assumptions essentially are our filters based on our knowledge and past experiences our brain tells us to determine something is likely or true without actually having ever any evidence that it is and we know that there are there are reasons good reasons for making assumptions or you know acting quickly and and things like that but in terms of this with relation to tenancies and relationships it's really important to recognize these situations and challenge your thoughts assumptions really can block possibilities for coming up for new suggestions and can create a spiral of negative thinking I really think the best way to avoid assumptions is to remain open-minded and not jump to conclusions and always remember no true tenancies are exactly the same now most of you would have heard of the tip of an iceberg analogy the bulk of an iceberg's mass is below the water surface like icebergs we really have a lot going on beneath the surface and what we see or hear is usually just a smaller chunk of the underlying issues so when communicating consider what is under the surf surface and this could be for you or for the other person taking your communication and listening skills to that next level can decrease your chances of conflict dramatically and you may have had that saying seek first to understand and then be understood we all think that we're good listeners okay but most of us really listen with the intent to be heard rather than the intent to actually hear this really is a skill believe me it is harder than it sounds but try it today and remember it takes practice actively seeking to understand the root of the problem really will help you understand the person's point of view which in turn helps you better respond with purpose okay and by seeking to understand it really does you know maintain the trust with the other person that you are putting in the effort to understand what's going on for them of course certainly you're not counselors the main thing I'm wanting you to take away from here is just to be present in your communications and seek to understand first okay so in terms of communication and more so in disputes language is more important than you probably even realise so what we say and the words that we use can trigger a person or they may just have a different meaning to another person and that depends on what's underneath their iceberg at the RTA we work with our frontline staff to be mindful of how they use words and we tell them to understand that their words can keep a person positional or they can neutralise a situation and calm a person now on your screen you can see some very common words I'm sure we all use them on a daily basis now where you can sense that conflict is likely or a topic or a person is particularly sensitive focusing on your language can really help have better conversations and avoid that conflict or that emotional reaction in terms of dispute resolution we find the word damage for example can trigger a tenant subconsciously we think damage is malicious it's we can't help it it's just the path our brain goes down but really what we know is damage can be accidental right so for example if you're talking about stains on a carpet where they're concerned saying something like I notice the carpets are marked as opposed to the carpets are damaged can avoid feelings of shame or embarrassment for the tenant another big one in conversations I'm sure you're all privy to is the conversation around the cleanliness of the home so just a few tips avoid using words like filthy and dirty you could switch it up try something like it's common that in some areas of the home they require more attention than others or you could just say something like the oven requires a wipe over science tells us that we really are proud creatures and our reputation or our status is really important to us now I'm going to launch another poll I want to find out what's the biggest thing that stops you from having difficult conversations I'll launch that poll now so we know when it comes to difficult conversations it's really um where you feel there's going to be a difference in opinion or a clash of values okay it really is important to start with the end in mind consider what is your desired outcome what are you hoping to achieve what is your key message what do you want to achieve is their wiggle room is their negotiation consider your communication methods and the barriers now remember there are always pros and cons to say for example sms email phone communications face-to-face communications but did you know that only seven percent of communication is verbal humans actually put more emphasis on what we observe the non-verbal communication so for example your facial expressions body language gestures eye contact movement your communication method that you choose is really important so remember when you're communicating in writing we're not citing a person we humans are left to assume the intention the tone and the message you could for example follow up a conversation with an email for your records rather than maybe using emails as you'll go to all the time let's take a look I'll share that poll there for you now okay so I can see here one of the biggest concerns there or biggest thing that stops you from having difficult conversations with you we can see 54 percent of you out there is that you're afraid the conversation is going to lead to an argument and I guess that comes down to your your feelings of the rapport or are you considering your past experiences with the person are you making assumptions is it one of those tricky tendency conversations and of course practicing these skills as I'm mentioning today will give you confidence but the more you jump in the more you're going to be able to better navigate these situations and maybe even your fear of confrontation will diminish over time or dissolve okay my overall tips essentially really is if you're planning your conversations and you're considering your past interactions or how the other party might receive the message it's going to help so have an action plan clear any obvious communication barriers so you know think about your time of day your method and don't forget you can always reconvene okay but in terms of where you're afraid that the arguments going to leave of the conversations going to lead to an argument you know if you feel that it's really coming down to a loss of rapport or trust or a breakdown in the communication really just be honest clear the air seek an agreement to move forward you could say something like oh Ben look I acknowledge there really has been some issues during the tenancy we really do have a continuing relationship and I'm hopeful we can put that aside and move forward and I do need to have a conversation with you today remember are you making assumptions based on your past interactions don't forget to challenge them okay think outside the box if you if you've challenged your your assumptions and you really do believe that this person may be just to have an argumentative personality type could you speak with the other tenant or the other partner or owner okay could the wife be better able to assist put another property manager have more success in the conversation think outside the box and of course aggression or abuse is never acceptable okay but a difference in opinion is nothing to be afraid of if anything try to see it as a challenge okay outline the differences be upfront we both see it differently okay but if we want these issues to be resolved then it's going to maybe take compromise and negotiation I'm prepared for that are you okay simple things like that I'm really just being upfront and honest is the best approach okay so we've talked about planning your communication now we're going to look at I'll just hide that poll there and hopefully you'll have the screen back up okay so during the conversation let's have a look here during the conversation well what's going on with our sides up it's back up and running again so most importantly being conscious at the time you know is especially of your barriers your environment okay is it an appropriate time have a think about it it might be appropriate but as conversations transpire you know someone enters the office or the tenants children might have come in from school or something like that okay always clarify what you hear okay clarify what you're hearing clarify the message are you hearing it with the intention that it really was supposed to be heard focus on the positives and the future okay keep focusing on the positives there's always positives to a situation okay the positive might be just actually having the conversation and coming together with a commitment to resolve it okay stay future focused and always remember don't end the conversation without an action plan now if emotions start to run high don't be afraid to acknowledge it and reaffirm that you're interested in reaching the outcomes together and for that reason you would like to pick up again okay pick up later when everyone's had some space now lastly always do what you say you will and document that outcome so we've looked at the common causes of tenancy disputes we've looked at the barriers including avoidance and assumptions and we've looked at the best practice when it comes to planning your communication and your methods and styles the benefits really are endless but don't forget that today is about taking away a few insights and reminders and blending them into your daily practices in life and in work okay and really it's about not forgetting to use your resources okay listen to understand consider your communication don't forget to challenge those assumptions your brain will make assumptions naturally get to the bottom of why you might avoid it might be avoiding things and practice practice practice if all else fails there's always the RTA dispute resolution as an option okay in most cases we know the legislation is not specific and it really is up to each other to communicate negotiate and compromise okay so I'm just having a look here we've got 29 minutes on the clock I am conscious that we're all very busy and you're probably allowed 30 minutes or so um we have had a few comments and questions coming through today so we might have a minute or so I'll just reflect there have a bit of a thought of course there's resources on our website website today if there are some other burning questions that you have or you can give our contact centre a call I'll just have a little bit of a look at some of the thoughts and comments that have come through today so we've had some um we've had some people commenting on um you know a big challenge which really is around maybe feuding lethals and tenants okay so um that's where the tenants and owners are basically the bump maybe become positional and you're essentially if you're an agent the meat and sandwich I guess um you know I guess the thing there is really getting to um getting to the bottom of the where the conflict between the two lie okay being up front and honest and reminding each party that if they're seeking an outcome possibly the way that they're going about it um you know that that outcome may not be achieved remembering too the biggest thing I think is is um as a property manager or that person in the middle is acting as a buffer okay if either a party are acting on emotions okay or they're positional um try working on taking back those messages um you know uh you know in a in a softer way remembering that soft and hard language okay um and and maybe having those honest conversations with um your owner and saying hey look you've employed me here as a professional to provide you with my um professional experience my take on things um you know I feel that really you know um you're wanting me to act on this my experience says says okay or refer them to other resources we've got someone out there asking what is the claim greater than the bond so that's where um sometimes parties are seeking money that um that it goes over the bond amount so you might um as a property manager or an owner the bond may be a thousand dollars and you may feel that um you know you've got monies outstanding for a number of different items it could be some repairs to the property carpet replacement what have you um that goes above um that thousand dollar bond okay so that will often come in goes bond um claims that above the bond will come in generally around the same time um as a bond dispute so that um you know people are hoping to have those discussions um included in the bond dispute conciliation process another one we might wrap up shortly um I this is a big one too what happens when the other person refuses to speak to I guess that's really frustrating when you're trying to keep that channel communication channel um open and the other person's refusing to to deal with you I guess it's pretty obvious um that there's a there's a lack of trust or a breakdown in the relationship and often it comes to you know um the rapport okay so airing that up front is really you know look it appears that something has occurred where we you know our relationship has broken down okay acknowledge that you may have an existing relationship how are we going to get through this okay and remember what I said sometimes it's really necessary to proceed through to dispute resolution for that impartial third party to come in and try to um assist with restoring that relationship or um assist parties with achieving an outcome on a particular issue okay ask them would they prefer to deal with another person okay if this is possible is there someone else in the office that they could um they would um be open to dealing with um and also maybe reconsider you know your your methods I find often just asking the person where it's safe to do so getting them um you know in um as a last sort of ditch attempt just getting them in and having any kind of conversations in person okay that's where they're going to see all of those non-verbal communications if you're genuine if your intent is clear and very obvious they're going to you know hopefully you're going to be able to change that perspective or build up that rapport and trust again and as I said don't forget dispute resolution is okay okay so I think we're probably going to have to wrap it up there um I hope that you have all um as I said taken away one of my objectives was taken away one or two insights to be able to blend into your um day-to-day life um it does wrap up our webinar now all of our webinars as I said earlier um they're on our website and we now have weekly podcasts which is really exciting um if you do have any more specific questions as I said give our um contact center a call now when I end the webinar um there will be a quick I promise it's quick three questions survey um so that um basically I end the webinar and if you can just stay on on um the webinar link a survey will pop up um but I did want to mention um essentially before I go today that we know that it is really an uncertain and challenging time for everyone in the Queen Queensland rental sector right now with COVID-19 and many people needing to isolate now more than ever we ask everyone to be mindful and respectful of each other and communicate as early as possible please stay safe and take care I will now end the webinar