Every landlord should seek to maintain friendly relationships with their renters. Being at odds with your tenants can create an uncomfortable situation that’s immensely stressful for everyone involved. Additionally, since dependable tenants are the cornerstone of any successful rental property, it’s in your best interest to avoid causing problems for your renters. Landlords looking to keep tenant inconvenience to the barest possible minimum, put the following pointers into practice.
Provide Advanced Notice of Large-Scale Renovations
Whenever large-scale renovations are performed on a rental property, the residents’ lives are likely to be impacted to some degree. For example, if you’re having the parking lot repaved, your tenants will temporarily need to make alternative parking arrangements. Similarly, if a communal laundry room is being renovated, renters will need to find other places to wash their clothes.
Needless to say, no one relishes becoming aware of renovations after they’re already underway. Receiving no advanced notice of renovations is guaranteed to throw your renters for a loop and cause them a fair amount of understandable frustration. So, to help nip this in the bud, make a point of providing your tenants with as much notice as possible in the leadup to future renovations. Although they’re still likely to be inconvenienced to some degree, this will ensure that they aren’t taken by surprise and provide them with ample time in which to plan ahead accordingly. Additionally, incorporating the aid of good planning and zoning software should prove helpful in this endeavor.
Take Time to Explain the Rationale Behind Rent Increases
You’d be hard-pressed to find a tenant who’s happy to roll with rent increases. Since rent represents a sizable portion of most people’s monthly income, it’s understandable that having to shell out even more of their hard-earned would be an unattractive prospect. However, while there’s no way to fully get your tenants on board with rent increases, explaining the rationale behind them is liable to soften the blow.
Although some landlords impose rent increases for the sole purpose of getting more money out of their tenants, others only increase rent when doing so is absolutely necessary. For example, if you’ve recently found yourself dealing with heightened property taxes or increased utility costs, rent increases may be inevitable. So, provided a rent increase isn’t being needlessly put into effect, make a point of explaining why this increase is necessary. Sure, many tenants are still likely to be miffed, but your forthrightness on the matter won’t soon be forgotten.
Quickly Take Care of Maintenance Issues
Unaddressed maintenance issues are among the most frustrating aspects of living in a rental property. While being able to leave these issues in the hands of a landlord should provide renters with peace of mind, getting some landlords to respond to maintenance issues in a timely manner can be an uphill battle. Furthermore, depending on the scale of the issue, the property’s livability may be compromised.
With this in mind, make prompt responses to maintenance requests a priority. Instead of allowing these requests to go unanswered for days – or weeks – make a point of responding to every maintenance request that comes your way in an expedient manner. Whether you personally attend to maintenance issues, employ full-time maintenance personnel, work with independent contractors or any combination thereof, make sure all requests are addressed in a time-frame that befits their level of severity.
Don’t Ignore Problematic Tenants
If any of your tenants are consistently causing problems for other renters, make sure to promptly get a handle on the situation. The longer these individuals are allowed to compromise other tenants’ general comfort, the more likely you are to lose renters. Having difficult conversations with problematic tenants can certainly be uncomfortable, but at the end of the day, it’s your job to ensure that renters have a hassle-free residential experience.
Although some landlords treat tenants like expendable commodities, these individuals are rarely well-liked by their renters or able to maintain healthy renter retention rates. Unsurprisingly, if you’re a persistent thorn in the collective side of your tenants, your odds of turning them into long-term residents are fairly low. So, if renter retention is among your top priorities, you should take active measures to make your tenants more comfortable and avoid causing problems for them. Fortunately, the tips discussed above can prove very useful in this endeavor.