Press release

Survey shows tenants are poorly informed about landlord services

Hamburg (27 May, 2015) - German tenants know too little about the services their landlords provide. One in five doesn't even know whether their building has a caretaker, or common areas. And one in four doesn't know whether the landlord is willing to have repairs carried out in homes in the evenings as well. These are the findings of a recent population-representative survey by TAG Immobilien AG in conjunction with the Technical University of Darmstadt. 1,000 tenants in Germany were interviewed for the survey.

Apparently landlords do not sufficiently inform their tenants about their services, even though such services are on a steady increase. Landlords are increasingly seeking to score points with their tenants with services ranging from parcel receipt to security services and helping them to find household help or craftmen. "This trend is not only evident in luxury apartments in more expensive big cities, but increasingly also in economically underdeveloped regions with higher vacancy rates," says real estate expert Prof. Dirk Schiereck of the TU Darmstadt.

"In our experience, landlords' extra services are very important to tenants," says Claudia Hoyer, the TAG Management Board member responsible for property management. 82 percent of respondents want better maintenance and faster repair of defects. They also attach great importance to cleanliness in their building and grounds.

"When choosing a new home, it is crucial for tenants that the landlords take their concerns seriously and are easily reached, that their homes are kept in good condition, and that any defects are repaired quickly," explains Hoyer. "Therefore it is important for the landlord to have local tenants offices. So in recent years we have created more than 60 such contact points and also significantly increased the number of our caretakers to 178."

"Housing companies not only have to cater more intensively for their tenants' diverse needs with flexible and creative services, but must also regularly inform them about the existing offer and have a local presence. This is expected of them nowadays," concludes Professor Schiereck.

About TAG Immobilien AG
TAG Immobilien AG an MDAX-listed company with a more than 125-year history. Its primary locations are in the Greater Hamburg and Berlin areas, the Salzgitter region, as well as Thuringia / Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. TAG currently manages about 74,000 dwellings and the associated commercial areas, garages and parking spaces. The company's goal is to improve the quality of housing for its tenants. In line with this, TAG adapts its holdings to modern living needs to, gets involved in the communities of its residential quarters, and promotes a good neighbourhood spirit. The Group continually reduces vacancy and increasing the value of its total portfolio through prudent management of its properties and a future-oriented/forward-looking development of its overall portfolio.

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