Why Do Good Tenants Leave?

We have the good fortune of meeting and placing a lot of high-quality prospective tenants.

A common complaint that these people share with us is that their current or previous landlords never fixed anything or made any repairs. Tenants get frustrated by a lack of action and response from property owners.

Keep in mind that tenants know when their lease is up, and they are already contemplating moving, whether they want to or not. Everything that happens during their time in your building contributes to convincing them one way or another, “Should I stay, or should I go?”

Here are three things to do to keep those good quality tenants:

Maintenance Practices

As we mentioned, tenants with bad experiences with previous landlords often volunteer this information and their frustrations. Handling small repairs and maintenance requests goes a long way to establishing goodwill and a good owner/tenant relationship. This also helps prevent more extensive repairs in the future. Add to that, those more extensive repairs are more expensive and time-consuming. Extensive repairs could also result in loss of rental income while undertaking these larger maintenance issues. It is in a property owner’s best interest to have a protocol for handling repair and maintenance issues from tenants.

Rent Increases

It’s critical to be mindful of raising the rent. There are market forces at play that we monitor continuously. One of these is the time of year for renting; seasonality can also be a factor, establishing when a lease term ends and when a moderate increase is more likely to be less of an issue and may even be expected by tenants.

Good Communication

This is a tough one for DIY owners, but consistent and prompt communications are how you build strong relationships. Staying in tune with life circumstances (marriage, jobs, graduation, divorce) and market trends (pets, fees, accommodations) is your best chance to update lease terms to be forward-thinking. You can also play better defense when the conversation of renewal arises.

Due to COVID, tenants are wanting to stay longer. Consider the three factors above to help them make that choice.