The pandemic has been tough on renters with many struggling to pay the rent. Being a rented property owner is a challenge too. Approximately 9.2 million property owners have lost income because their renters are behind on rent.
Successfully managing your rental properties can be difficult at any time. Read on to learn about 5 essential tenant management tips for property owners.
1. Have Good Tenants
You might think that a good tenant pays the rent. Of course, it’s great if you have a tenant who pays the rent but that’s only the start.
You need a tenant that pays the rent on time and in full. A tenant who pays the rent and then causes you large amounts of problems might as well not be paying the rent. They’re costing you money and your time.
Finding and keeping good tenants is a good long-term investment. Have an effective screening process to filter out tenants who are likely to be a drain on your profitability.
Check their track record as a tenant and their capacity to honor their commitment to pay rent. Also, check that they are likely to look after your asset, be responsible neighbors, and meet your criteria for tenants.
Once you get a good tenant, look after them well.
2. A Good Lease Agreement Matters
Your lease agreement may be your most important defense in the event you have a problem tenant. Make sure it’s easy to understand and clear about the commitments you and your tenant are committing to.
A lease agreement should cover details such as how the property can be used, and responsibilities for maintenance including cutting lawns, pest control, and alterations. Be clear about your policy on pets and subletting.
It’s essential to explain what will happen if the tenant does not pay the rent or breaches the agreement in some other way. In some cases, where the property is too big and you have a lot of tenants, hiring a property management company is a wise decision to manage all your property rentals and keep track of all the contracts and records. With this, you can focus on things you need to improve and address in your Investments.
3. Maintain Professional Standards
Having good relationships with your tenant is best achieved by behaving professionally with them at all times. Honor your commitments and expect others to do so too.
This principle applies to all your service providers too. Seek out service providers such as insurance companies, contractors, and cleaning services who have the same high standards. Here’s more information.
4. Collect the Rent
Surely you don’t need to be told to collect the rent. Strange as it may seem any list of tenant management tips for property managers can’t ignore collecting the rent.
Making sure that you collect the rent is more about having effective procedures in place than simply deciding to collect the rent. All parties have to be clear about how and when rent is to be paid.
Standardizing your process with automatic reminders helps. Use online rent payments, bank deposits, or mobile payments. These are easy to check and make resolving a late or non-payment easier.
5. Keep Records
You will always hope that your relationship with your tenants will be a good one. Occasionally things might go wrong. If they do you’ll be glad if you maintained accurate and full records.
Documenting your actions can pay dividends if you get into a dispute with a tenant. It helps with litigation too.
Better Tenant Management
With more experience, your tenant management will improve. Start by applying these tenant management tips. Add to them as you learn.
Browse our blog for more property investment tips.
