Whether you’re the landlord of an impressive portfolio of flats and houses or are simply renting out your first property and living in a second, everything must be done legally, above board, and to the letter. With that said, read on for six ways to become a more effective property landlord.
Be Quick with Your Responses
Even if you have one or more dreamlike tenants, with whom you’ve built an easy and honest conversational style over the months or years, there may well still be occasions when your reply to their query is delayed.
The simple fact is that the quicker you reply and the more available and responsive you are to your tenants, the higher level of confidence your tenants will have in you, and the more likely it will be that they’ll be honest when a problem arises.
Reduce the Building’s Carbon Footprint
An eco-friendly landlord is not only someone who’s likely to benefit by monopolising the local area as word spreads of their admirable priorities, but also a businessperson who’s making money as well as taking care of the environment.
Making small and affordable changes to reduce the carbon footprint and heighten the level of energy efficiency throughout your rental properties will help to reduce the cost of living for not only your tenants, but for you as the landlord, too.
Other ways of improving how environmentally friendly each one of your rental properties is include, where possible, switching to sustainable energy sources, upgrading and regularly servicing the boiler and replacing the wall, loft and floor insulation with a higher-quality material. Get more information about service boilers and their pricing details for your residential and commercial properties.
Ensure New Tenants Fully Understand the Lease
Just as in the case of other businesses across the entire spectrum of industry, word-of-mouth recommendations count for a great deal in the house and flat rental business, so building a reputation as a high-quality and reliable landlord should count for a lot.
When a new couple, single occupant, or a larger family decide to move into one of your properties, spend the time not only introducing yourself in a professional, yet friendly, way, but also sit down with them and go through the details of the rental agreement.
Not only should this avoid any misunderstandings regarding the contract further down the line, but it will also show you to be an honest and upfront landlord right from the beginning.
Be Hyper Aware of Your Profile Online
Next, tenants who are experienced in the process of renting a house will know that they should thoroughly research ratings and reviews of all potential landlords before contacting them, which is why you need to maintain a professional and private online presence.
In the UK, websites such as RateYourLandlord and Yelp actively encourage past and present tenants throughout the country to rate their landlords and even provide a detailed review on the positives and negatives of their rental experience.
The good news is, in the case of both sites mentioned above, that you as the reviewed landlord are able to comment and provide feedback on not only the positive ratings, but the negative ones, too.
In addition to monitoring your overall ratings on these websites, you should also make sure your social media accounts don’t contain any questionable content and that, if you use Facebook and other such platforms, that your privacy settings are at the highest level possible.
Utilise Technology to its Fullest
As in the case of every single other industry, technology and innovative software and systems have been invented and developed to make the lives of both commercial and private landlords significantly easier.
An excellent example of just how helpful this technology can be is when you decide to store all your important paperwork electronically, which will mean that you can access, in chronological order, the files on a particular tenant and update them accordingly.
What’s more, there are even applications that allow your tenants to access the details of their lease and contact you through a private and secure network, which will again help to strengthen the lines of communication between you both.
Don’t Forget the Smaller Touches
In an effort to improve your own reputation as a landlord, make your properties the preferred choice when prospective new tenants are faced with a myriad of options, and to raise the reputation of landlords in general, you should never forget the smaller touches.
Examples range from a fresh bouquet of flowers on the windowsill after annual inspections, stocking essentials in the bathroom cabinet and underneath the kitchen sink prior to moving-in day and offering information regarding the surrounding area.
