One of the most challenging aspects of being a landlord is keeping your rental units stocked with good tenants. There are ways to make this happen, however. Chief among these ways is to retain valuable tenants that you've already secured.
The question is: how do you make this happen? There are several lease renewal strategies for helping to keep quality tenants and we're going to discuss them in detail below. Let's go!
Offer Favorable Lease Terms
Our first piece of advice is to offer favorable lease terms. Ensure that your lease isn't too strict or too demanding. If you can, offer different lease lengths (such as 6-month leases, 1-year leases, 2-year leases, etc.). Consider also allowing pets.
Try not to be too restrictive when it comes to decoration. Also, ensure that the designated penalties aren't too harsh.
If a tenant gets bitten by a lease agreement term they believe to be unfair, they might not be renewing next year.
Keep Rent Increases to a Minimum
No one likes it when their rent gets increased. However, most can handle a small increase (under $25 a month) from year to year. It's when the increases exceed $100 a month that tenants start to think twice about whether they're getting a reasonable deal or not.
Some of these individuals will decide that the juice isn't worth the squeeze and move on to another apartment. If you don't want to lose them, cut back on the size of those increases.
Improve Tenant Relations
You also need to take action to improve tenant relations. Make sure your hired employees are treating tenants with respect. Also, ensure that tenants are receiving quality service regularly.
For instance, you might start providing online payment. Or, you might work to enhance your maintenance capabilities. Regardless of what you have to do to make tenants happier, do it.
Be Communicative About Renewal
Many times, a tenant will fail to renew their lease simply because they didn't know the renewal deadline. After all, it's not as if tenants are checking the language of their leases weekly.
This is why, if you want more tenants to renew, you need to be highly communicative about renewal. Send reminder emails out frequently in the months leading up to renewal and make sure they make clear how tenants should go about renewing their leases.
The easier you make this process, the more likely it is that tenants will stay. If you make it a pain, many tenants will forego it in favor of other options.
Put These Lease Renewal Strategies to Good Use
If you're looking to retain good tenants, you would be wise to put these lease renewal strategies to good use. Doing so will improve tenant relations and thus make your rental units a more welcoming place for residents.
Do you need help? Are you looking for property managers in Charlotte, NC? If so, we here at PMI Charlotte are the ones to see.
Contact us now to discuss your property management needs!
