For letting agents and landlords, one of the most expensive words in the property market is “turnover.” The cost of emptying a rental property for two months, combined with the costs of re-letting fees, deep cleaning, and decorating costs for the same property, can sometimes exceed the rental income for that whole year.
While traditional methods of tenant screening focus on the financial aspects of potential tenants, keeping tenants with a rental property for longer periods of time requires an understanding of the psychological motivations of tenants to rent that type of rental property.
What makes tenants decide to stay in their rental properties for five years instead of one year?
- Functional Micro-Friction Beats High-End Aesthetics
Renters are drawn to properties with no daily annoyances. The features of such apartments include ample storage space, soundproof walls between individual rooms, sufficient water pressure in the bathrooms, and placement of power outlets throughout the dwelling. The result of such a home is that there is little to no motivation for the renters to move to another property. For Cheltenham Letting Agents, visit www.meandyouestateagents.co.uk/lettings/
- The Sense of Autonomy
The fastest way to drive a good tenant away from one’s rental property is to treat him as if he were just a guest in someone else’s home. Landlords who allow tenants to make minor personalisations to their rental properties are more likely to retain their tenants than those who do not. This allows the tenants to live in their rental properties as if they were living in their own homes.
- The “24-Hour” Repair Rule
The most important test of empathy that landlords have is related to their responsiveness to the requests of their tenants for repairs to any issues in the rental property. For instance, if a tenant has an issue with a broken boiler or a leaky sink, a landlord who responds quickly to such requests and completes the necessary repairs to the rental property is showing empathy for their tenants. Conversely, if a landlord does not respond quickly to such requests from their tenants, it is likely that those tenants will begin to search for other rental properties to live in when their lease with the current landlord expires.
In the end, the key to gaining loyalty from renters is not through providing them with high-end appliances and employing aggressive marketing strategies to attract them to their rental properties. Instead, loyalty from renters will be gained if letting agents show respect for their renters, provide them with comfort in their rental properties, and take steps to manage those rental properties proactively to meet the needs and satisfaction of their renters.
