Maintaining a high tenant retention rate is every landlord's dream. It helps reduce your operating costs since you don't need to find new tenants often and is key to rental income maximization.
What are you doing to make your tenants stay longer? Having a strategy for ensuring more lease renewals is a good place to start, but what if it's not yielding any fruit?
If your tenants keep failing to renew their leases upon expiring, something is wrong, and you're probably responsible. Keep reading to know some of the mistakes you might be making:
1. Poor Landlord-Tenant Communication
Are you the kind of landlord who only shows up when rent is due? While rent collection is one of your duties, failing to maintain an open line of communication with your tenants can lead to a negative rental experience.
A tenant can need your help at any time, and you or your property management need to respond swiftly. For example, imagine there's a plumbing emergency and the affected tenant cannot reach you on the phone. They might take it upon themselves to hire a plumber and fix the issue, but do you think they'll want to keep dealing with such a landlord?
Make an effort to provide a dedicated line of communication for your tenants, and respond to their issues quickly. If you're busy with other duties, it's in your best interest to bring in someone to help you handle the communications.
2. Harsh/Unfriendly Rental Policies
You're within your rights to develop a rental policy for your property, as long as it doesn't violate the rights of the tenants. However, your policies can be the reason no tenant wants to renew their leases.
For instance, if you have a zero-tolerance policy for pets, you certainly aren't doing yourself any favors. In a country where, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, over 89 million homes live with a pet, you can expect that most of your tenants will want to bring a pet into their rented homes.
If they can't keep a pet on your property, they'll either terminate the lease and find a property with a pet-friendly policy, or simply wait for the lease to expire and move out.
3. Poor Property Maintenance
In Kansas, landlords have a legal responsibility to provide a reasonably safe and healthy environment for their tenants. However, doing the absolute minimum to satisfy the legal requirement isn't necessarily going to satisfy your tenants.
Renters love landlords who go above and beyond to make their environment better. If you're ever slow to make the required repairs or often skimp on inspections and maintenance, don't be surprised if you struggle to improve the lease renewal rate.
Start Getting More Lease Renewals
Your tenant retention strategies have a direct impact on the rate of lease renewals. If you're guilty of the mistakes fleshed out above, it'll be difficult to increase tenant renewals. It's time to start rectifying those mistakes, but don't expect an instant result.
If you need more immediate results, your best bet is to hire PMI Air Capital, a full-service property management company in Wichita, Kansas. As part of Property Management Inc., a national brand overseeing $50 billion in assets and 30,000 residences, we bring both national strength and local expertise to rental property owners.
Our contact lines are open!
