How to Improve Your Tenant Retention Rate
Your goal as a property owner should not only be to find renters. It would help if you also strived to keep tenants as long as possible. That, however, is easier said than done. Sometimes the reason for a tenant’s departure is apparent, and other times you may lose a tenant for no apparent reason. Numerous factors can affect your tenant retention rate, some of which are not obvious. That being said, the most significant factor will be your tenant’s satisfaction. For this reason, we are here to talk about how to improve your tenant retention rate.
1. Make Sure Your Tenants Can Always Get In Touch With You
The first step to making your tenants satisfied is always going to be communication. Unfortunately, many property owners in Toronto often forget this basic element. When renting out your property, you should be available, direct, and honest in all your dealings with your tenant. A tenant should not be confused about how to make a maintenance request, warn you of probable late payments, or ask a general inquiry. Additionally, a tenant should not have to wait days for a response from you or your property manager or have to follow up numerous times so that they can fix a broken appliance. It would be best if you tried to be there for your tenant as much as possible.
The easy way to remedy this is to create a welcoming package for all of your tenants. This package should include all the methods they can use to get in touch with you. Make sure they know your email address, phone number, and maybe even your social media profiles. You should also notify them about when the best time to get in touch with you is. This way, you will establish a strong property owner-tenant relationship that is crucial for tenant retention. If you have a property manager, they would take over this 25/7/365 responsibility. If you want to reap all the benefits of renting a property, you should start with this.
2. Give Move-In And Renewal Incentives
When your new tenant is just moving in, you should try to help them in any way possible. If they are making a long-distance move to Toronto with a pet, try to make them feel welcome. This is an excellent way of setting up first impressions. However, almost all property owners do this. They welcome their new tenants and afterward forget about them or only come around for rent. This is the wrong approach if you want to improve your tenant retention rate. If you’re going to keep your tenants for longer, you also need to put in more effort. A good way of doing this is to provide a lease renewal incentive.
These incentives are an excellent way to keep good tenants. For example, you can offer your new tenants a 2% prompt payment discount. Tenants have grown accustomed to being mistreated and ignored. That is why simply greeting them is not sufficient. Giving out small gifts on holidays is also a great thing to do with tenants, as we’ve discovered over the years. You will form a stronger bond this way. This will not only aid in tenant retention but will also aid in communication.
3. Maintain Competitive Rental Rates
Toronto has the second-highest average rent in Canada. In such a competitive market, you must price your rent carefully. It should almost be like running a business. If your rent is too high, all of your tenants will move to your less expensive competitors. According to Centennial Moving experts who move people who are unsatisfied with rental prices all the time, to make a profit, you must be slightly less expensive than your competition while making as few sacrifices as possible. However, rent prices can fluctuate over time for various reasons, and you must be cautious about how you handle this. Raising rents on good tenants is always a risk, however the government of Ontario has a guideline they publish and allow for yearly increases to help you determine when and how much to raise it to.
4. Allow Renters To Make Changes To The Property
Tenants have few options when it comes to personalizing the property they rent. While this is the norm, it is one of the main reasons why tenants don’t stay in one place for long. If you are extremely strict about what changes a tenant may make to your property, you will lose them as soon as they find a place that better fits their definition of “home.” We are not suggesting that you allow your tenant to remodel your property. All you have to do is enable people to make minor changes that will make them feel more at ease and inclined to stay on your property.
5. A Property Management Team Can Help With Tenant Retention
Property owners frequently believe they can save money by managing their own properties. However, if renting is not your primary source of income, self-managing is almost impossible. To optimize and maximize your rentals’ revenues, you must have specific procedures in place. At the very least, you need to have someone help with maintenance orders, rent collection as well as many other property management-related duties. Many property owners fall short of this standard and cannot give the level of service needed to boost tenant retention. This is the primary reason why you should think about hiring a property management team to assist you. While this may be an additional cost, you will save money in the long run because you will be able to keep your tenants for longer than if you did not have a dedicated property management team to assist you.
6. Help Your Tenant Maintain The Property
People who rent out their homes know they are living on someone else’s property. This means that there will always be some reserve about paying for maintenance. No one wants to pay for the upkeep of someone else’s property. It doesn’t matter how good your relationship with your tenant is or how good of a property owner you are. As a result, one of the best ways to improve your tenant retention rate is to contribute to any type of maintenance. Understand your maintenance duties as a property owner and aim to resolve minor concerns as soon as possible.
Frequently Asked Questions about Tenant Retention
What is a good way to know that a tenant can be retained for a longer time span?
When you pre-qualify and screen your tenants, you can zero in on tenants that show the most promise. In addition, getting referrals from their previous landlords can also prove to be a great way to know if the tenant is consistent with what they say.
Which is the most important factor in tenant retention?
One of the most important yet easily overlooked aspect of a landlord-tenant relationship is communication. If the tenant can openly exchange their thoughts and views with you, including their problems, they are more likely to stay for longer.
What is a unique way of increasing tenant retention?
Offering renewal bonus, and/or incentivizing the tenants for good behavior with perks like discount on rent or added amenities can go a long way I ensuring improved tenant retention.