One of the most common problems you’ll experience as a landlord or property manager is high tenant turnover rates. By locking in long-term, quality tenants, you can cut costs on finding new renters and maximize your property income.
Facilitating a healthy and respectful landlord tenant relationship can help ensure that your reliable tenants stick around for the long haul. It may not always be easy, but using these best practices is a great place to start.
Make Communication Easy
One of the most important lessons landlords usually learn the hard way is that effective communication skills will make your life significantly easier. If your tenants feel comfortable talking to you, you can avoid tedious and strenuous arguments over renewals and maintenance requests later.
Here are ways to maintain open and healthy communication with your tenants:
- Offer multiple contact methods: Provide a direct line of contact like your phone number, tenant portal and email address so they can contact you via their preferred method.
- Allow them to text you: Texting has become a mainstream way of communication, especially for younger/middle aged tenants. Making yourself available through your tenant’s preferred communication method will help you generate a more open dialogue.
- Respond promptly: Though you don’t always have to handle the issue that has arisen immediately, it is respectful to respond to a tenants message with a confirmation and tell them you’ll address it as soon as possible. A good rule of thumb is to follow up with a plan of action within one business day.
Respect Their Boundaries
Another key component to building a positive landlord tenant relationship is respecting their boundaries. In fact, one of the most common
landlord complaints filed by tenants is a lack of privacy by their landlords. Checking in on your tenants and the property is an important part of the job, but it’s imperative to respect their space.
Basic guidelines to keep in mind include:
- Plan ahead: Consider scheduling your quarterly check-ins during the lease renewal period or creating an inspection schedule.
- Be mindful of your tenant’s time: Put yourself in their shoes and plan your visits during a time they won’t have to miss work or delay a meal.
- Be professional and consistent: Reach out through a documented form of communication such as email or text to schedule your visits. Remember, in most states you are required to give a formal 24 hour notice prior to entering the property.
Be Compassionate
As you know, life throws curve balls and even your best tenants aren’t always resilient. When it comes to managing your interpersonal relationships, especially for landlords, a little empathy can go a long way. It’s important to remember that this is more than a business relationship to your tenants.
While this doesn’t mean you should be a push-over, try giving your tenants a little wiggle room. For example:
- Be flexible when possible: If they are rarely late on rent and need a few extra days, consider offering an extension or waiving the late payment fees.
- Be quick with repairs: Consider expediting small repairs like paint touch-ups or broken cabinet doors. Such an easy fix for you can mean the world to your tenant.
Take the Extra Step
When it comes to building tenant relationships, the little things can be the difference between a long-term tenant and one who doesn’t renew their lease. That’s why it’s important to go the extra mile, especially for the ones you want to stick around.
Here are a few ways to show your appreciation for your tenants:
- Give tenants a welcome gift: A small fruit basket or a gift card to a home goods store is a small gesture that will help tenants feel at home early on.
- Holiday gift cards: A gift card to a local cafe or restaurant goes a long way.
- Thank tenants for paying rent on time: A simple handwritten note, email, or text to thank your tenants for their payment is a great way to both confirm that you received it and show your appreciation for their business.
- Take your business hat off sometimes: It doesn’t have to be all business, all the time. Expressing an interest in their personal life is a great way to begin developing a solid foundation for a long-term relationship.
Lean on Steady for the Unexpected
Healthy landlord tenant relationships can help ensure you have long-term, quality tenants and on-going success with your business. With that said, everyone is subject to surprise life events that may result in a good tenant defaulting on their rent.
Steady puts you back in the driver's seat by guaranteeing you get paid even when your tenant defaults on their rent payment, protecting you against the unexpected. With a rent default insurance policy through Steady, landlords can receive up to 6 months of missed rent payments, without even having to pay a deductible.