How to Increase Tenant Retention in Your Rental Property

Sep 1, 2023

One of the biggest challenges investment property owners face is high tenant turnover. Hiring and screening repeatedly is time and energy-consuming. Furthermore, any time that your property is between tenancies, you are losing out on monthly income. In this blog post, you will learn a few helpful tips to increase tenant retention in your rental property.

Understand Your Ideal Tenants

The simplest way to set yourself up for tenant retention is to ensure that you’re attracting the right kind of tenants in the first place. Conduct extensive tenant screening to make sure that your property is going to the ideal tenant, one who fits your expectations on the lease. Knowing who your ideal or desirable tenant is can help set the bar and ensure that long-term tenants don’t slip through the cracks.

This means being picky and seeing that all your potential tenants complete your critical tenant screening documents. These screening documents may include:

Rental references
Income verification
Background checks
Credit reports
Social media posts

Make a Habit of Regular Maintenance

Regular maintenance and timely repairs create a good experience for your tenants while also helping retain them for the long haul. To keep your tenants happy, be sure to provide well-maintained rental units and respond quickly to requests for repairs and maintenance.

Simple things such as regular inspections and maintenance are key to increasing tenant retention. It’s also important to encourage tenants to report repairs as soon as they start, preventing potential damages from occurring. This establishes mutual respect between the landlord and the tenants and can lead to a more mutually beneficial relationship.

Set Clear Expectations

When tenants have a clear understanding of landlord expectations, they are more likely to follow them and stay longer in your rental property. Setting clear expectations around rental payments, curfews, housekeeping, and guest visitation is key to both tenant attraction and retention.

Make sure to clearly explain your expectations in your rental agreement. Consider consulting with a local real estate lawyer or property management company to ensure the lease agreement is solid and accepted by your tenants.

Incentivise Tenants

Creating rental incentives can go a long way in encouraging tenants to stay in your rental property longer. Consider offering discounts to long-term tenants, allowing pets, waiving late fees, or lowering security deposits. Make sure to explain these incentives to tenants before they sign the lease to give them extra motivation to stay with you longer.

Incentives don’t have to be costly to be effective. Even small perks like gift cards, free rent for a month or early renewal discounts can be effective in motivating tenants to extend their leases.

Stay Connected

Lastly, keeping a good relationship with your tenants goes a long way in retaining them for the long haul. Stay in touch with them, check if their needs are being met and if they’re enjoying their stay, invite them to events and respond to their inquiries promptly and efficiently. In addition, allowing open communication between the landlord and tenant keeps them informed of upcoming changes, maintenance schedules and leased term updates that can affect their tenancy.

Working on tenant retention can be hard and time-consuming, but it’s worth the effort. At Home 2 Home, we offer effective property management solutions that help you attract and retain the right tenants for your rental properties. Feel free to reach out to us to discuss your tenant retention needs.

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