Approach Tenant Requests With Profitability In Mind
By Paul Esajian on September 29, 2014
If you own rental property, you can be sure that at some point in almost every lease there will be a tenant complaint. Even the best tenants or the best properties will have issues come up during a yearlong lease. How you handle them as a landlord will go a long way in keeping your properties rented and cash flow coming in. If you address each request, complaint or question with urgency, you will have happier tenants who will want to stay in your property and treat it as if it was their own. If you ignore their requests, you will have nobody to blame but yourself if they leave suddenly or only stay for one lease. How you handle tenant problems will go a long way in how effective you are as a landlord.
The first step in dealing with tenant issues is responding to them. There is nothing that irritates a tenant more than calling a landlord and not getting a response back. Even if you don’t have an answer immediately you need to find out what the problem is and what you can do about it. Items with the physical property should be dealt with as quickly as possible. A clogged toilet may not be a big deal but if it goes on for more than 24 hours you have a problem on your hands. Your job may not permit you from returning a call right away but even a text to acknowledge you are working on the problem is sufficient. Answer each request as if it was the most important thing you do. Your tenants will greatly appreciate it.
Having the ability to quickly have minor things taken care of requires you to stay in touch with your local network. A clogged toilet or changing a door lock are certainly not overly difficult tasks but they also may not be able to be done by everyone. If you are not handy or not available during the day you need to have people lined up that you can quickly call to get minor tasks done when you need them. Between Craigslist, Angieslist and local networking groups there are plenty of ways to reach these people. It is up to you to stay in contact and treat them fairly so are willing to go to your property when you need them to. If you have to scramble and look for someone you will waste time during your regular work day and you may be forced to overpay to have it done quickly. Not having people you can call can turn a minor problem into a big one.
There is always a fine line between determining what everyday use is and excessive wear and tear. Your tenant may have caused a minor issue but was is bound to happen anyway? If you have a good tenant you need to ask yourself if a $75-$100 bill for a damaged dishwasher is worth having them leave over. Of course money is money and you don’t want your tenant thinking they can do what they please in the house but if you are too petty it will come back to haunt you. The cost of finding a new tenant is worth more than the minor repair bill. If you can have a tenant stay in your house for years without having to worry about getting your check every month you are already ahead of the game. Things happen in every lease and if you work with your tenant they will appreciate it and want to stay as long as possible.
Even though you are dealing with a rental property you need to treat it like you were living there. This means not just putting a band aid on the problem but actually fixing it the right way. If you cover up small problems they will only get worse over time and eventually end up costing you more. Additionally your tenant will get the sense that you don’t care about the property. If you don’t care about it then why should they? This sets a precedent that you are willing to act when problems come up but you will only go so far. In the big picture it is worth the extra cost to fix something the right way not only for the benefit of your property but to show your tenants that you will take care of them. When it comes time to renew the lease they will be far more likely to want to stay.
Anytime you have work done on a property you need to follow up with your tenant. By asking them if the issue has been resolved properly and if there is anything else that you need to keep your eye on you are earning the trust of your tenant. If they know that you are willing to spend the time and money to get things done why would they want to leave? A quick follow up text or phone call goes a long way and also gives you an idea of whether or not the repairs were money well spent.
Problems happen in every house. As a landlord and property owner you need to accept this and deal with them as quickly as possible. Good tenants are usually a byproduct of having good landlords. If you are irritated by tenant problems you may need to consider selling because they won’t just go away. Things happen in every rental that requires attention. How you deal with them usually decide how successful your rental property is.