How to Keep Renters Happy

Finding great tenants who pay rent on time and care for their rented premises is every landlord’s dream. When you eventually find such a tenant, your next goal should be to keep them happy for as long as possible.

Happy tenants are less likely to leave, reducing your turnover costs and ensuring you make more profits. But, how exactly do you do that?

Here are tried-and-tested tips, from Legacy Realty & Management , to help ensure you keep your tenant satisfied.

Handle Repair & Maintenance Issues Promptly

This is a recipe for successful landlording. As a landlord, you should have systems in place that ensure that repair and maintenance concerns from tenants are handled as promptly as possible.

By doing so, the tenant will feel appreciated and cared for. In turn, they will be more likely to renew their lease multiple times. But aside from helping keep a tenant happy and comfortable, addressing repairs and maintenance issues can also benefit your bottom line as well.

For one, you may be able to keep small maintenance issues from becoming bigger and potentially costly to fix. What’s more, you’ll be able to ensure legal compliance when it comes to the unit’s habitability.

Foster a Good Landlord-Tenant Relationship

This is another thing you could do to keep your renters happy for multiple lease renewals. Remember, property management is in the service industry. As such, the last thing you’d want to do is underestimate the human factor.

While it’s in your best interest to be firm when executing the lease agreement , you’ll also want to be friendly and cooperative as well. This applies to all of life in general, especially when you want someone to be paying you consistently every month.

The following are some of the things you could do in this regard.

• Be timely when it comes to responding to their repair and maintenance requests
• Have open lines of communication between you and the tenant for minimal areas of confusion or misunderstandings.
• Notify the tenant before entering their rented premises.

Generally speaking, the more cozy the property feels to the resident, the higher the chances will be for multiple lease renewals.

Provide Desirable Amenities

Certain amenities can help you attract and retain quality tenants in your property. For certain demographics of tenants, like Gen-Z and Millennials, quality of life plays a significant role in where they choose to live.

Luckily for you, investing in the right amenities can help you provide tenants with a more tailored atmosphere.

The following are some of the things you may want to provide in your rental.

• Hardwood flooring
• Stainless steel appliances
• Air conditioning system
• Secure bike racks and quiet study rooms for student renters
• Pet-friendly policies

Be Strategic with Lease Renewals

Rental vacancies can be costly to your bottom line. As such, it’s in your best interest to be strategic to ensure you keep them as minimal as possible.

And one way of doing so is by letting your tenant know that you’re interested in having them renew their lease agreement for another term.

Here’s how to go about doing that:

• Reach out to the tenant at least 90 days before their lease expires to ask them whether they would be interested in a lease renewal.
• Notifying them this early can encourage them to begin thinking about their future plans.
• If they tell you they intend to stay, then great! But if not, then at least you can begin planning the re-renting process early on.

If you have a particularly good tenant that you wouldn’t want to lose, there are several things you could do. You could forgo a rent raise for the next lease term. If that doesn’t seem to help, ask them directly what you could do to make them stay.

Instead of forgoing a rent raise, you could also upgrade their unit. This could entail doing things like replacing outdated fixtures, updating kitchen hardware, and revitalizing curb appeal .

Be Fair with Tenants

A tenant who feels targeted by their landlord is more likely to move out the first chance they get. That’s why fair and equal treatment of tenants by landlords is key to success. Fair treatment is even a requirement under the Fair Housing Act (FHA).

Under the Federal Fair Housing Act, landlords have a duty to treat tenants fairly, equally, and respectfully regardless of certain protected classes. The classes include: race, color, religion, sex, disability, nationality, and familial status. Some states have even more classes in addition to those under federal law.

Consider Allowing Pets

Making your property pet-friendly can provide you with certain benefits. Including, longer tenancies, increased tenant pool, responsible tenants, and the potential for higher rent.

Admittedly, though, making your property pet-friendly can have certain drawbacks. For instance, pets can cause damage to walls, flooring, and yards. Luckily for you, though, you can easily address such issues by having a foolproof contingency plan.

You could, for example, charge the tenant a pet deposit or a recurring pet rent. You can also put certain restrictions in place. Such as, limiting the size, number, and breed of pets allowed.

Set Clear Expectations

This is a recipe for a solid landlord-tenant relationship and an overall great experience for your renters. Before the tenant can put ink to paper, let them know your expectations first.

Specifically, let them know what their responsibilities are after they sign their lease and move in. For example, their rent-paying obligations, and repair and maintenance duties.

Bottom Line

Happy tenants are the key to a profitable and stress-free rental investment. When renters feel valued, they stay longer, care for the property, and pay rent on time—maximizing your returns.

At Legacy Realty & Management, we specialize in creating positive rental experiences for both landlords and tenants. From tenant screening to property maintenance, we handle every detail so you don’t have to. Get in touch today and let us help you make the most of your investment!