Being a landlord is not easy. Depending on the size of your property, you may be responsible for a lot of homes. And you know the old saying: “A man’s home is his castle.” Naturally, people put a great deal of care into selecting the places they call home. They need to know that they can trust their property owners to quickly attend to their concerns.
Of course, a landlord’s job requires a lot more than property maintenance. The fostering and growing of positive relationships between yourself and the people who rent your property is hugely important. It’s likely you have many different personalities to deal with. But knowing how to manage them all in an effort to bring about high-quality living situations for everyone involved is the key to being a top-of-the-line landlord.
Here are three ways to develop and maintain strong landlord/tenant relationships:
1. Screen potential tenants as if they were applying for a job
Hiring managers have the tough task of composing job postings, reading resumes and conducting job interviews – all in the name of locating the perfect fits for their companies. Recruitment experts will tell you that expert hiring practices involve a vetting process that seeks to find individuals who mesh well within a company’s culture – not just trying to find people with ample skills and experience.
Your job as a landlord should not just entail doing your own background checks on potential tenants, but also include a process by which you gauge the personalities of the people showing interest in your rental property. According to Imperial Properties, “not only does this afford you the opportunity to review a potential tenant’s credit history, references and background, but meeting with your tenant prior to leasing will also allow you the ability to establish expectations for both parties early in your relationship. This helps build trust and understanding from day one.”
2. Be accessible
Developing and maintaining strong relationships with your tenants has a lot to do with how much they’re able to trust you. As is often said, trust is the cornerstone of any strong relationship. And a big part of gaining trust is being accessible. Make it known, to each of your tenants, the times that are best to reach you and be sure to provide various methods of contact.
“One of the biggest pet peeves for tenants is not being able to get in touch with their landlords,” says Paul Esajian of FortuneBuilders, “Many landlords view calls as an annoyance, and simply avoid them all together. This is the worst thing you can do for your property. Ignoring calls or emails is basically telling your tenants that they aren’t important enough for you to deal with. If you do this enough times, your tenants will feel the same way about you and the property.”
3. Offer flexible payment options
Emergency situations arise in all of our lives. We’ve all encountered instances when the car broke down, forcing us to exceed our monthly spending budgets to secure the repairs. Your tenants will likely come to you with stories of their own, detailing why their rents may be late. You have a business to run. The rents must be paid. But your ability to help your tenants find ways to make those payments with a lot less stress will go a long way in providing everyone with more peace of mind.
At SingleKey, we offer landlords a unique way to receive timely payments without having to go through the hassle of running down their tenants. We manage rental risks so landlords can rest easy, and we offer tenants payment flexibility options. This includes the ability to postpone rent payment for a month and the acceptance of payments by cheque or Interac.
By developing stronger relationships with your tenants, you’ll make your job as a landlord a whole lot easier.
