How Should A Good Landlord Act?

To be able to maintain a successful leasing business requires not only taking care of your property but also taking care of your renters as well. There are common stories and situations wherein a property remains unrented due to the fact that word goes around that a landlord isn’t so pleasant or that a landlord doesn’t really pay attention to maintaining rentable space. And these are the type of stories we’d ideally like to avoid since it can greatly affect your business. 

Leasing an apartment is also a business where you need to take care of your customers.

(source: Flickr)

 So how and what do we have to do to become a good landlord to our tenants? 1.    Provide proper notice Although you may own the property your tenants are renting, it still does not give you permission to drop-in for surprise visits. Learn to also respect your tenants’ privacy by giving them a proper 24-hour notice that you’ll be dropping by to check how things are going and what needs attending in their new home. A landlord who drops by at any time they wish may cause your tenants to feel like you’re encroaching on their privacy. A notice would allow them to make time to entertain you and spruce up the place as well. 2.    Follow-up on needed home repairs How do you expect tenants to take care of your property when they see that you don’t bother taking care of it yourself? It’s always best to set a good example to your tenants so that they’d be conscious enough to maintain the space as clean and properly taken care of as when you first handed it to them. 3.    Build a sense of amity between you two Another way of taking care of your tenants is by being thoughtful enough to send a simple greeting during holidays or a birthday, if you want to go that extra mile. This builds a sense of amity with you, enough to sustain a relationship of mutual respect and positive feelings. 4. Choose your tenants wisely And of course, the most basic, and probably the most important of all, is to choose your tenants wisely. Make sure you pick tenants who fall right into the category of who you are looking for. If you take in decent and responsible tenants, this alleviates that bothersome feeling and need to always check in on them from time to time. Also being specific about whom you wish to rent your space would also help in eliminating a long list of hopefuls. If you have a small space, then getting only a maximum of 2 tenants in a unit would be appropriate. It all depends on what you think best. Advice for Tenants Exemplary behavior like paying rent in time, being neighborly, not causing too much noise or commotions amongst the neighbors are behaviors that landlords expect of their tenants. The more you keep this behavior, the better the relationship you’ll have with your landlord – less surprise drop-ins and faster issue repairs at your rented home.