When it comes to tenant management, property managers have to handle a lot of tasks and activities to keep their businesses running smoothly and keep their tenants happy. Unfortunately, you may notice higher tenant turnover rates and poor reviews—even inconsistent cash flow due to poor management.
Today, being the best landlord is not just an aspiration but a requirement for consistency in real estate. If you’re looking for tips to help ensure your success as a property manager, you’ve come to the right place!
In this article, we’ll explore the top seven tips you’ll need to implement in your rental property management business to ensure success, keep consistent cash flow, and always have happy tenants. Many of these tips will provide you with the tools to improve your tenant communication, avoid conflicts, and streamline operations so you can easily manage your business independently.
By following these tips, you’ll put your business on the path to achieving consistent growth, no matter how many properties you manage. Let’s get into the first tip: proactively mitigating issues by preparing a comprehensive lease agreement, a must-have for any rental property with tenants!
#1: Proactively Handle Issues by Including Solutions in Lease Agreements
Have you ever struggled with tenant issues or found there to be consistent, similar problems at your rental property, no matter the tenant? Chances are, it’s not the renter’s fault but perhaps an issue with a lack of comprehensive information in your lease agreements.
When you anticipate some of the common issues you’ll face and even include clauses in your lease agreement, you can prevent them or even handle them better when they arise. Think of it as preparing for issues and giving yourself solutions to follow if you have to handle these issues.
Some of the clauses you can include may pertain to the exclusion of certain activities, repercussions for violations of the lease terms, and even specific required tenant actions for certain situations. Property managers or property management companies can greatly benefit from this step. If done right, your clauses will minimize tenant concerns and improve tenant and rental management over time.
#2: Invest in a Stellar Tenant Screening Process to Manage Tenants
If you really want to improve your property management, then you’ll have to ensure your tenants are screened and confirmed to be reliable, responsible, and less likely to cause problems at your real estate properties. The right tenant screening tool will help you conduct criminal background checks, credit checks, and even look into whether your tenant has had bankruptcy or eviction reports.
You can use property management services like TenantCloud to organize the process and access all the tools you need to run your property management business. The most effective tenant screening will ensure that property owners like you lease only to good tenants, so you reduce the chance of potential conflicts.
Every good landlord should have tenant management software to automate the tenant screening process and save time.
Related: Red-Flag Pre-Screening Questions for Tenants
#3: Establish Expectations and Handle Problem Tenants Swiftly
Problem tenants are an issue occasionally, but the easiest way to avoid this to guarantee your success as a property manager is to communicate your expectations from the start.
You should set the tone by outlining these expectations in lease agreements and verbally in conversation. If there are non-compliance issues, try and address them quickly and always adhere to local laws in case of evictions.
If you don’t manage problem tenants, you might struggle with high rates of tenant turnover, which is why tenant management is crucial. The most successful property managers should understand how to handle tenant relations to promise a harmonious rental property environment for all of their renters.
Related: How to Find Tenants for Rental Property: Guide for Landlords
#4: Provide Reliable, Professional Communication Channels
Another tip to achieve success as a landlord to ensure tenant satisfaction is to provide channels for reliable, professional communication. If your tenants cannot share what they need—including maintenance requests or tenant complaints—they will likely look for other housing and not seek lease renewal.
The right property management software can easily do this, allowing you to handle maintenance requests, rent collection, policy changes, and a record of your prospective tenants and current renters.
As long as you can centralize communication, you can automate and document your communications while improving tenant communication to keep your new tenants happy at your residential property.
#5: Understand Tenant Privacy Rights
The most important thing you can do as a property manager is to understand and adhere to tenant privacy rights. If you’re unaware of these rights and potentially violate them, you can face legal issues and struggle with tenant satisfaction and trust. The best practice is to study the state and local laws regarding visit notices and permissions before entering your property.
This is one of the most fundamental aspects of residential property management. It helps you build positive tenant relationships, making your property management company more reputable and trusted. It also ensures a smoother experience for all those involved.
#6: Streamline and Automate Rent Collection with Proper Software
If you want to make rent payments more manageable than ever for your renters, use property management software that automates and centralizes rent collection to one platform. There are many issues when using other external payment platforms like PayPal and Venmo or direct deposit or physical drop boxes.
With the right platform, you can facilitate rent payments for timely rental income as a property owner. The easier for your tenants to be good tenants and make rent payments on time, the better your business will become—mainly if you rely on online rent collection!
#7: The Most Important of All Tenancy Management Tips
In real estate, one of the most challenging situations you deal with is whether or not to raise the rent when lease renewal arrives. Thoughtfully considering rent increases to balance your financial needs with those of your tenants is so important, not just for tenant satisfaction but also so that you can provide affordable housing.
The best way to ensure you’re providing affordable properties for rent is to examine the market, communicate transparently with your current tenants, and then handle any tenant complaints.
All property managers will have to deal with a rent increase at one time or another, but you can take steps to ensure your rental income concerns do not overshadow your tenant concerns. After all, they are the customers you need to keep satisfied to encourage tenant retention!
Related: How to Manage a Rental Property | A Step-by-Step Guide
How Will You Improve Your Tenant Management?
For any industrial property management business, managing both new tenants and current tenants is essential to sustain your business and achieve success. As long as you follow our provided tips, you can take steps to improve your rental property management company.
From being proactive to having the right rent collection software to mitigating rent increases professionally, you can enhance your tenant satisfaction rates and make your residential property one of the best to rent in the area.
We hope this article helped you understand the steps you can take to enhance your business as a property manager! Whether you’ve been in the business forever or are just starting out, you want to have a platform that can handle all of your needs. That’s where TenantCloud comes in.
Try TenantCloud Today to Streamline Your Property Management
With more than just the basics, TenantCloud stands out as the all-in-one rental property management platform for renters and property managers.
You’ll benefit from centralized tenant screening, rental applications, lease agreements, property maintenance requests, and rent reporting, as well as a comprehensive tenant portal that ensures seamless communication between you and your current—and prospective—tenants.
Start your free 14-day trial today to see the power of a rent collection platform designed with tenants and landlords in mind. With TenantCloud, your business is in good hands.
