Be Thankful For And Appreciate Your Good Tenants

Good tenants are a treasure. Any other kind of treasure you would guard, protect and cherish. But too many times as landlords, we forget or take for granted our treasured customers who pay their rent on time, never cause disturbances or problems, take quality care of their homes and are good neighbors. We want are quality tenants to continue making their homes with us. Here are several ways to help show them that you appreciate them and want to continue housing them in your rental units.

Timely and effective communication. A variety of issues concern most tenants-and those issues are usually fairly obvious. Tenants don’t like loud or noisy neighbors, unkempt common areas, slow response to maintenance requests and duct tape remedies to problems. The one problem that tenants will not ignore is landlord apathy. If you seem uncaring or nonchalant about your tenant’s concerns, he will get the message that you don’t value them. That perception of apathy is often created by an unwillingness or failure to communicate leaving your tenants with the impression that you only care about them when their rent is late. Keep your tenants informed. No one likes unpleasant surprises, and tenants are no different. Keep your maintenance or inspection appointments and let the tenants know beforehand if you can’t. Common courtesy goes a long way.

Professional handling of maintenance issues. One way to set your rental property apart from your competition is to handle tenant requests quickly and professionally. After a new tenant moves in, if he notes any problems, don’t view these as complaints. Instead, think of them as opportunities to let your tenant know you care. By quickly and professionally addressing the problem, you actually improve your tenant relations. Landlords don’t have to be perfect, they just need to be responsive to tenant requests for repairs. One of the most common complaints about landlords is that they are unwilling to make upgrades for their current tenants. Refusing to repaint, recarpet, or upgrade the appliances for a great tenant doesn’t make sense. Because if you don’t do it for the great tenant you already have, and that unhappy tenant moves out due to your lack of effort, you may have to do this type of work anyway in order to attract a new unproven tenant to rent from you.

Respect your tenant’s privacy. Tenants don’t like it when a landlord fails to respect their privacy. You can only enter the premises with advance written notice or with the tenant’s permission in case of emergency. Although you only need to give the tenant 24 hours notice to access the property, that often isn’t enough to maintain a positive and mutually respectful relationship with your tenant. Even though you own the rental property, the last thing you want is for the tenant to feel like their home isn’t really theirs. If you don’t respect the privacy of your tenant’s home, they will be less likely to show respect for you or their rental property during their tenancy.

Enforcement of house rules. Good tenants actually want and appreciate fair and reasonable policies and rules. When tenants are quiet and respectful of their neighbors, their neighbors are more likely to reciprocate. Establishing standard policies and house rules for your rental properties and enforcing them fairly is all part of the job of managing rental property. Tenants talk to one another and quickly discover it if you have different rules for different tenants. Inconsistent or selective rules enforcement has legal implications as it can be viewed as a from of discrimination. For example, selectively enforcing the late fee provisions in your lease and charging some but not others for like violations is not okay.


Finally, here are some ideas for rewarding your good and loyal tenants and showing them that you appreciate their tenancy:

• Give your good tenants a gift certificate for the local mall or to eat out at a nice restaurant just for being a good tenant.

• Install ceiling fans, closet organizers, a new paint job or new carpeting for a quality long term tenant.

• Insure that the lighting at night works and that you have adequate outside lighting so tenants feel safe.

• Remember your good tenants on special occasions like holidays with cards, a box of candy, flowers or champagne.

• Reward tenants who pay their rent on time for a full year by giving away movie theatre tickets, pizza coupons or video rentals.

• Always do what you say you will do and never promise a tenant anything that you can’t deliver.

• Conduct a preventative maintenance inspection twice per year and replace or repair anything not up to standard.

• Survey your tenants for unfilled expectations and make every attempt to fill them if reasonable and possible.

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