As a landlord, one of the most important things you can do is keep your tenants happy. It may seem like common sense, but sometimes, it’s not as easy as it sounds.
Happy tenants renew leases and spread the word to other potential tenants. While it’s hard to please everybody, when you have good tenants, you do want to go above and beyond to keep them around as long as possible.
With the high cost of tenant turnover, keeping current tenants happy should be your main goal. Here are three ways you can keep your tenants happy:
How to Keep your Tenants Happy
1. Respond to Complaints Fast
Things aren’t always perfect and tenants will have complaints. Sometimes, the complaints are due to something breaking or not working properly. You cannot magically avoid maintenance problems, but you can respond quickly.
One of the biggest complaints from tenants is slow responses to maintenance. When a tenant brings an issue to your attention, respond quickly with information about when someone will be arriving to fix the issue.
The faster you resolve maintenance complaints, and other complaints, the happier your tenants will be. Offering 24/7 on-call emergency maintenance can help, too. You may need to hire a property manager to offer the very best maintenance support for your tenants.
2. Offer Privacy
Another huge issue tenants cannot stand is a lack of privacy. When landlords show up unannounced, it’s not only annoying but also against the law, in most states. Make sure you give your tenants privacy to live their life without feeling like you’re always there.
It’s okay to drive by the property once in a while to make sure it’s being well taken care of, but don’t be driving by or stopping excessively. You don’t want to make tenants feel uncomfortable because you’re always around.
One of the best ways to ensure tenant privacy is to hire a property management team. With a property manager between you and the tenant, you won’t have to go by the property and they will know they are dealing with a professional company.
3. Offer Updates & Complete Quickly
Tenants that have lived in your property for several years shouldn’t feel like they don’t get any updates. They might see others moving into other properties that were fully updated before they move in. This can make them feel unwelcome and not that important.
Offering updates, when the property could use them, is a great way to keep tenants happy. Just make sure you work with their schedule and keep them informed about the updates. Even a fresh coat of paint can go a long way if it’s been several years.
These three tips can help you keep your tenants happy. When you hire the right property management company, you’ll be able to attract great tenants and keep them happy without any worry. Good property managers will stay on top of all your properties by responding to maintenance requests fast and providing updates, when necessary. You’ll also be putting a buffer between you and your tenants, which is appreciated by many good tenants.
