There are a number of reasons why you should look to keep your tenants with the number one reason being that tenant turnover can be costly! From advertising costs, cleaning costs and lost income for every day that your property is vacant.

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This might not seem like a lot but these things do add up. Eliminating these costs as much as possible will ensure that your property is staying profitable.

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Keeping your income reliable and consistent plus avoiding the uncertainty around getting in new tenants are other big advantages. It’s always a risk that the new tenants may not treat your property the same way the old ones did. Sometimes change isn’t always for the better!

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1. Communication for the Win!

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Being able to communicate effectively is one of the most important life skills we can learn. One of the major benefits now that you are self-managing your own property is that you can directly communicate with your tenants… No more middlemen!

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Being professional in your communication goes a long way. Just as you expect your tenants to be respectful and reliable, you should be too. Your tenant is not just your money maker and a great tenancy experience is built on mutual respect for one another. Adopting a friendly and flexible attitude in your communications will help foster a great relationship.

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Equally important is respecting their privacy. It’s a given that you may need to go to the property from time to time for repairs, maintenance or routine inspections but you need to ensure you communicate this clearly and give enough notice when these times arise.

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2. Look After Your Property

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Keeping up with repairs and maintenance is a vital part of being a landlord. Deal with repairs and maintenance issues promptly and ensure you stay on top of any routine maintenance for your property. It can be easy to sit back and forget about things but you want to be proactive, not reactive which will avoid repairs and issues coming up as much.

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Showing your tenants you care about not only their comfort but their safety is important. On RentBetter, you can log all your maintenance and keep track of things through the platform.

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Both you and your tenant are able to upload maintenance requests, but only you will have visibility over the full details and the maintenance jobs that you enter. Once you mark a job complete, it will automatically appear in the reporting feature.

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If you look after your property it’s more likely that your tenants will treat it with the respect it deserves.  

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3. Be Considerate When Raising the Rent

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You’ve poured your hard-earned cash into purchasing a property, it’s your asset, it’s there to make you money and provide you with financial security. Anyone who has rented before expects a rental increase from time to time but you need to be fair.

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There are rules around when you can increase the rent and by how much.

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Being considerate with your rent increases and doing your research will help to keep the good ones around for longer.

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4. Be Proactive About Lease Renewals

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It pays to be proactive about most things in life. Don’t be afraid to ‘rock the boat’, you should be encouraging your tenants at a minimum of around 60 days (2 months) before the lease is due to expire to sign a renewal.

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If you’ve got a tenant you love, it might be worth your time to encourage a longer lease term. This gives both you and the tenant add security for a longer period of time – they get a secure home, you get a secured income!

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In the case that they don’t renew,  this also gives you the much needed time to replace them, tenant turnover costs money so you want to give yourself as much time as possible to account for things.

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If you’re using the RentBetter Platform to manage your property you’ll have access to the tools at your fingertips to enable you to manage the lease for your property with ease. With our automated reminders and alerts, you’ll never miss an important date, like renewing your lease!

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Lease Agreements are all digital and easy to create and renew online with just a few clicks. They are stored in one easy to find place within the platform so there’s no more filing or printing of paperwork making managing your property seamless.

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