Tips for Being an Accommodating Landlord

Table of Contents

1. Make Yourself Easy to Reach
2. Being an Accommodating Landlord
3. Have Open Office Hours
4. Make Maintenance a Top Priority[+]
   1. A Happy Tenant Means Longer-Term Rentals

Although some landlords have an unfortunate habit of placing the needs of their tenants on the backburner, it can’t be denied that reliable renters are a landlord’s most precious resource. That being the case, any landlord that wishes to maintain healthy tenant retention rates should readily attend to the needs of their renters. However, if this is your first time owning a rental property, the core characteristics of an accommodating landlord may be unfamiliar to you. So, if you aspire to become a landlord who prioritizes tenant comfort and convenience, take heed of the following pointers.

Make Yourself Easy to Reach

If you’ve ever been a renter, odds are you’ve dealt with at least one maintenance emergency. When problems arise with plumbing, electricity, or other vital utilities, it’s important that renters have someone to whom they can turn. After all, depending on how severe a maintenance issue is, they may not be able to safely return to their residence until such time as it’s fixed.

Needless to say, discovering that your landlord is thoroughly unreachable when maintenance emergencies pop up can frustrate renters to no end. As the property owner, it is the landlord’s job to attend to a wide assortment of maintenance issues, and if they seemingly go AWOL whenever emergency maintenance is needed, it’s safe to assume that they don’t take their responsibilities very seriously.

With this in mind, make sure your tenants always have a way to reach you. Not only should you provide them with your work phone and email, you’ll also need to give them an emergency number at which you can be reached after-hours. However, you should make it clear that the latter should only be used in the case of a genuine emergency.

Being an Accommodating Landlord

A good way to be reached is to invest in a property management company. This way your tenants can get ahold of someone at any point in time. Most good property management companies have a phone number you can call at any time of the day for emergencies. Tenants can rest assured, that no matter what time of day they will get the help that they need in the event of an emergency. This is also super helpful if they have common questions that you don’t have to answer to all day long. Someone else can help you answer those questions. They can also handle lots of the other logistical side of things like collecting rent, cleaning the property, property maintenance, property emergencies, and maintaining a healthy relationship so that your tenants are happy and you don’t have to lift a finger!

Knowing that they can reach out to you at any time will provide your renters with tremendous peace of mind and effectively illustrate your commitment to good communication. The more accessible you are to your tenants, the more secure they’re likely to feel – and the more secure they feel, the more likely they are to continue renting from you long after their original lease periods.

Have Open Office Hours

A willingness to meet with tenants in person is another important tenet of good communication between landlords and renters. (Of course, in light of the highly infectious nature of COVID-19 and the ongoing pandemic, landlords would do well to exercise caution with regard to in-person interactions with tenants. Video calls work just as well, for example.) If you maintain an office on the property, consider putting open office hours into effect. During these hours, tenants will be able to come to see you without making an appointment and make you aware of any questions, concerns, or grievances they have regarding the property and/or your managerial practices.

In addition to making renters feel heard and respected, keeping open office hours can be a great way to set yourself apart from landlords who actively avoid tenants at every turn. So, if you have the time to spare and you value the input of your renters, opening your office up to tenants is a prospect worth considering. Customer resource management software can also prove helpful in cataloging tenant requests, complaints, and grievances, so if you haven’t already done so, start looking into the best CRM for real estate.

To make sure your residents can reach you at any hour of the day you may want to think about getting an AI customer service line. That way residents can get answers to frequently asked questions at any time of the day. AI customer service has become very life-like and is extremely dependable, especially for things that are commonly asked. Your residents will feel taken care of and you can make sure that you get the time off and sleep that you deserve!

Make Maintenance a Top Priority

A well-maintained rental property is generally a property occupied by satisfied tenants. So, to ensure that you’re able to provide your renters with top-notch maintenance, take care to hire maintenance personnel who are knowledgeable about all things handyman-related and able to interact with tenants in a courteous, professional manner. Furthermore, avoid sitting on maintenance requests, as you’re liable to forget about them and draw the ire of your renters.

As a landlord, it’s important to understand that your tenants are more than just people who hand you checks every month. While it’s true that you ultimately have a business relationship with these individuals, it’s also your responsibility to make their residential experience as comfortable as possible. Unsurprisingly, landlords who fail to process this fact have trouble hanging onto tenants for longer than the duration of their initial leases. Landlords looking for effective ways to better accommodate their tenants should take the previously discussed tips to heart.

A Happy Tenant Means Longer-Term Rentals

If you want to keep your tenants for a long time, then you need to establish a good relationship with them. Following these guidelines will help you succeed in that. A happy tenant may mean a longer-term tenant which means less turnover on your end and less hassle of finding a new tenant. Also, remember that there are many good property management companies that can help you with all the logistics and management of your rental properties.

Thank you for reading!