We want to give you the benefit of the doubt; we bet you’re the nicest landlord out there, always fair, and even drop by every once in awhile to bring treats to your tenants! But it takes a little bit more than a timely bag full of chocolate chip cookies to win the favor of a good renter. Property management and its success hinges on the quality of your relationship as a landlord with your tenants.
In order to get to the bottom of what makes a successful landlord-renter relationship, we did some research into what good tenants look for in their renter. As such, here are a few reasons that renters can’t stand who they rent from. Stray away from these potential pitfalls, and we have no doubt that you’ll have a wildly successful rental property with plenty of repeat business!
1. Slow or Ignored Repair Requests
One of the biggest driving reasons that folks choose a rental over purchasing a home is that they don’t want to have to deal with the ongoing maintenance. This means that they’re counting on you, as the landlord, to make sure that all the wheels keep running smoothly on the rental property!
This item is number one on our list because it’s one of the quickest ways that a tenant can become frustrated with their landlord. Large property management companies may have an advantage when it comes to maintenance, as they usually have their own onsite staff.
However, if you are a private renter, you’ll want to make sure that upon receiving a repair or maintenance request, you quickly dispatch a serviceperson to perform what’s been requested. We have no doubt that if you’re able to complete maintenance requests in a timely fashion, your tenants will not only be happy, but impressed with your ability in property management.
2. Lack of Enforcing the Rules
Rules are essential to keeping any organized system running efficiently and keeping all parties involved satisfied. Depending on what sort of rental property you are managing, you may have multiple tenants coexisting in the same general space.
Another common way that tenants can become frustrated with their renting experience is through other tenants not following the rules and the landlord not taking any action.
Enforcement of the rules of renting is a cornerstone of property management. Having enforced policies pertaining to noise, storage, and where/when to throw out garbage is essential to keeping all tenants happy. Knowing when to put your foot down and intervene with a bad tenant will surely keep all of the good ones happy.
3. Having no Place to Park
After a long day at work and braving a harrowing commute back home, seeing another car parked in a tenant’s space is sure to get their blood pressure up. Property management’s definition surely includes management of the parking space that goes along with the property.
Employing a professional parking enforcement service can be one option for ensuring that this doesn’t happen, but if that is not an option, just be sure to act swiftly if a tenant ever reports that their space is unavailable. And if the issue persists, perhaps additional measures could be taken.
4. Being Unfriendly!
Rental property management is a people’s business, and people prefer those that are friendly! This one should really be a no-brainer. If you know how to listen, respond, and act, you know how to be an effective landlord. Doing so with a cheerful demeanor will do wonders in preserving your tenants’ happiness.
Property management can be a lot of fun and yield great returns on your rental property. All that it takes is being proactive and understanding the needs of your tenants! Be quick to respond, cheerful, and know when to enforce the rules.
And maybe it wouldn’t hurt to bring the cookies around every once in awhile, too.