Are you a Slum Lord or a Landlord?

As a landlord, you know how hard it can be to find good tenants. But when you do find them, you want to keep them! Because finding new tenants is more costly than retaining current ones, keeping your current tenants happy is beneficial from a bottom-line standpoint. It will also help you maintain the community you have fostered with your current good tenants.

Looking for a few strategies to keep your tenants happy? Here are a few tips for retaining tenants:

• Start things off right. When tenants move in, welcome them with a packet of information, including your contact information, when rent is due, and responsibilities with utilities and any other maintenance. You may also want to leave a small housewarming gift. Checking in with new tenants in the first few weeks after move-in is a nice gesture. After that, leave them be and let them reach out to you. Consider sending Christmas and birthday cards to your tenants as personal touch points throughout the year.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate! Everyone appreciates good communication, including your tenants. Be prompt in answering tenant messages, even if it’s just to acknowledge that you received the question and are looking into it. When you or your maintenance crew need to enter a tenant’s unit, give plenty of notice and try to enter the unit as few times as possible. And, while it’s not always easy, remain as calm, kind, and flexible as possible, especially in tough situations.
• Keep the peace. Related to communication, avoid procrastination when resolving tenant tensions. Letting tensions fester will allow tenants to harbor animosity toward one another and poison a sense of community. Keep in mind that if you received one complaint about a tenant, there’s a good chance others have similar complaints but have not voiced them. Not only will keeping the peace among tenants lead to fewer headaches, but it will also entice tenants to stay. 
• Proactively maintain. Rather than waiting for emergencies, be proactive about maintaining and updating units. Keep a schedule of regular maintenance checks and when units should be updated with things like fresh paint, carpet cleaning or replacement, and new appliances. Also, collect tenant feedback on a regular basis to increase the likelihood that you’ll receive feedback about annoyances that may not have otherwise been reported.
• Incentivize. Incentives are a great way to persuade your tenants to stay. As mentioned earlier, it is generally more expensive to look for new tenants than it is to keep good ones, so holding a lower rent rate for your good tenants could be a good tactic. Getting into the habit of notifying tenants a few months in advance of their renewal is a good practice. Doing so will give you time to negotiate with tenants if they are looking to leave. If a tenant is still set on leaving despite your best efforts, you will have some extra time to advertise the vacancy. Another way to incentivize tenants to stay is by extending lease agreements. Consider flexibility in your leases that would allow tenants to move between units or into different buildings if you have multiple properties.

What are your strategies for keeping tenants happy?