This is intended to be a short guide on keeping the people who are probably paying your mortgage(s) happy. Keep in mind that if you didn’t have renters you’d be up a creek!
I should start by admitting that I’m not unhappy with my current or past landlords but there are huge area’s where they could improve their business. Yes, owning rental property is a business, which means the customer comes first. I also realize that there are tenants who will abuse their landlord. They may not pay their rent on time or wreck the rental unit, among other things. This post does not take those people into account, simply those of us who are professionals and maintain all parts of the lease.
Here we go:
1) Don’t set your rent higher than it should be for the unit – This is very subjective so I won’t go into detail. However, I have seen a few instances of gross over-charging in the college towns I’ve lived in.
2) Call at least one lessee from each unit once every 2-3 months and call when they are home – The lessee doesn’t get anything out of renting a place to live except housing and an empty wallet. The lessor is likely making money and having their mortgage paid for. This means that the lessor should take the initiative to keep their customers happy. I personally work for the money I use to pay my rent and don’t usually have time to call my landlord during work, and he can be pissy when I call him after 5pm. If he would call me after 5pm once in a while that would solve this problem. I could keep a list of problems I am having with the rental unit and he get them on a regular basis.
3) Never make the lessee pay for consumables attached to the rental unit or required for the unit to function as described in the lease. Specifically I am referring to light bulbs and batteries. If you as a lessor don’t want to buy expensive replacement light bulbs for every unit you own then don’t have fixtures installed that require expensive bulbs! Also have batteries on hand for garage door opener remotes, fan/light remotes, etc. I realize that these are small expenses but the lessee is already paying a large part of their earnings to living in your property, do this to help keep them happy! Who knows maybe they will stay more than 1-2 years.
4) Spray for bugs! – Do this as often as needed and at the request of the lessee without complaint. My current apartment, a duplex, had a ton of HUGE spiders around it. I’m not a fan of spiders so that is a problem for me. I called my landlord and he did have someone come and spray but it took them a few days and they did a crummy job of it. I ended up having to go to the store, buy some pesticide, and spray them myself.
One last thought: The lessee is not building equity out of renting a unit from you, you are, so keep them HAPPY!
FYI – I haven’t proof-read this yet so I may be editing this later.
September 29, 2006 at 5:31 pm
as a landlord being abused by a tenant. I agree with some of your advice..However, let me say, there are times when a patron needs removed from shopping in a store because of their behavior or demands same as a tenant may become so ridiculously abusive about demanding unnecessary things, they dont deserve to remain in their current housing. When they feel they have all the rights and neighbors and landlord have none, it’s time to be ‘removed’. There are some who make this as difficult as possible by running to their legal aid attorneys who can drag it out in court forever and the law abiding landlords and others are the ones who suffer..