Every industry has a bottom line, a segment or group that it strives to keep happy in order to ensure that demand for the industry’s products or services stays up. This bottom line can be made up of all different kinds of people, depending on what you’re selling and where. The industry of landlording has tenants as its bottom line, and it’s important to know how to keep them happy. Happy tenants will be much easier to deal with, and if they’re on friendly terms with you are less prone to causing problems with noise or property damage. Here are some things you should consider to improve tenant relations.
Have Multiple Methods of Collecting Rent
This day and age, not everybody wants to use post-dated paper cheques to collect rent. You should be able to collect rent a few different ways; e-transfers, direct withdrawal, and the classic cheque all have different advantages that are valuable to different types of tenants. Make it easy for your bottom line to give you money, and everyone wins!
Review Tenant’s Leases with Them
There’s no obligation for you to do this, but there can be huge advantages down the line. When a person doesn’t understand their lease, they might assume you’re trying to pull a fast one on them. Reviewing the lease with them, so they’ll understand what happens when the rent comes in late when there’s property damage, and when there are other problems; save yourself the headache of being accused of trying to be sly.
Communicate
Stay in touch with your tenants. Update them on what’s happening in and around the home, as well as if you have any large future projects. Call before showing up at their door, and when you do get a call about maintenance, ask them if there’s anything else they notice around the home that needs looking into. Ask them about their day, their family, their interests; let them know that if they need help with anything around the home, they can call you. These little things will make you more approachable, and tenants won’t wait until a problem gets too big before they call you. Communication is key to good tenant-landlord relationships.
Jazz Things Up
Add plants to common areas, slap on a fresh coat of paint, keep the stairwell in good repair; take pride in your homes! Little improvements here and there let your tenants know that you care about the state of the home; it is their home, after all!
Hire a Property Manager
Property managers are experts in tenant relations. Getting well-known property management services for your rental properties will ease communication with tenants, help create fair rental agreements, and ensure quick response to maintenance problems. Property managers will often offer tenants several ways of paying rent, as well as actuarial staff to help you keep track of who has paid. This solution is particularly useful to landlords who own multiple properties; it can be difficult to find the time to ensure quality communications with all of your tenants. Property managers have the staff and resources to keep on good terms with every resident of your properties.