How to Keep Renters Happy?

As a landlord, it is crucial for you to find renters that pay their rental dues on time and treat the rental unit well with fewer to no damage.

Once you find excellent renters, do your best to treat them well so they continue to stay on. This article offers different tips to encourage your good tenants to continue staying.

Looking for good tenants consumes a lot of your time so if you can find various ways of making existing ones happy, it is best to be flexible.

In this guide, our team at Vesta Property Management will share the best tips to keep your renters happy, helping you retain them for a long-term.

What Are the Benefits of Having Long-Term Tenants?

By having long-term tenants, landlords can:

• earn a regular monthly income which they can use to budget for property upgrades to deliver more value to existing renters.
• focus their time on taking care of the property instead of constantly marketing a vacancy which requires a lot of effort and time.
• build good relations with a renter since you can become more familiar with their needs and wants over time.

What Are the Best Tips for Keeping Renters Happy?

1. Attend to Maintenance Issues Right Away

Being a proactive landlord is crucial to tenant happiness. Check your property for early signs of damage to limit costly repairs. Pay attention to your curb appeal and enhance it to maintain attractiveness and dedicate time to keeping home systems functional.

If tenants raise concerns, be attentive and responsive to show your priority towards tenant satisfaction.

Also, you want your rental unit to be free from pest infestation and mold, which are some of the top tenant pet peeves. Legally, you are also required to keep a livable rental space for renters. By staying on top of things, you encourage tenants to decide to renew their leases quickly.

2. Strive to Be a Good Landlord

Commonly, you are advised to keep your rental space in great condition to maintain happy residents. However, managing a rental also equates to maintaining positive interactions with renters.

Since you are dealing with people, you need to be friendly, considerate, and respectful. Maintain open communication and be responsive when tenants reach out to you.

Schedule the best time when conducting property repairs to avoid any disturbances. Respect your tenants’ privacy and avoid snooping around.

If complaints are raised, remain calm and listen respectfully. Resolve issues right away and don’t forget to send a notice before inspecting the rental unit or performing repairs.

3. Know What Amenities Renters Seek

Depending on the demographics you target, an amenity may be prioritized over another. While one group will prefer a designated parking spot to secure their vehicles, another might go for more storage areas around the unit.

The more you are aware of the needs of your current renters, the more fit the amenities you can offer to them.

Make sure that you invest in property upgrades that make a tenant’s stay more comfortable since this leads to long-term residency.

4. Plan for Lease Renewals Ahead of Time

List down when leases end and actively ask renters to renew their leases 90 days in advance. Should they decide not to renew, it will give you a 3-month period to prepare and find candidates. You can immediately start crafting ads and spreading the word to your network.

Apart from that, you can offer incentives to your current renters and reward them for staying longer in your unit. A variety of options are available, such as rent discounts, one-month rent waivers, or offering the same rental rate. If a renter hesitates, make sure to learn the reasons behind it.

Exercise flexibility with the requests coming from your tenants. A few property upgrades can be doable, such as repainting or redecorating the unit, as long as conditions are agreed upon and the costs are reasonable. Compared to dealing with vacancies, this can be easier.

5. Treat All Tenants in the Same Way

Read up on the Fair Housing laws, which help prevent discrimination of specific classes according to race, religion, national origin, or disability. It is best to be fair to all renters to avoid running into legal issues and create a friendly atmosphere as well.

Some situations you want to guard against are giving favors to one group of renters over others, such as allowing late rental payments without charging late fees. If other renters hear about it, they might not want to pay their rent on time.

6. Balance Enforcing the Rules

Being overly strict can also cause conflicts. While staying firm is critical when it comes to applying property policies, assess the situation. To ensure that your policies are followed, you need to include them in the lease.

Be clear about your stance on:

• subletting
• accepting pets
• collecting a late payment fee

It also helps to detail the consequences when tenants fail to comply so they understand the need for strict adherence. It will also encourage renters to follow what is outlined in the lease and help them meet what is expected from them.

If you find out that renters broke a policy, take time to hear their side of the story rather than deciding on eviction right away. If there was a complaint against a particular tenant, do an initial investigation before making a decision.

Make sure that all property policies are in the lease so it is easier to implement and can be a crucial resource for tenants.

Bottom Line

Making tenants happy requires actively responding to their needs and performing your duties as a landlord.

However, daily tasks can take up a lot of time, so you opt to hire a trusted property management company like Vesta Property Management to take care of your tenants and investment property.

Contact us today to learn more about our services!