Communicating effectively with your tenants starts with the very first interaction – often a screening phone call. When prospective tenants call about a property, it is crucial to describe your screening criteria in a clear but friendly way. This should contribute to you not only being able to get a sense of who your potential tenant might be but also start to establish expectations as regards the landlord-tenant relationship.
When a tenant has completed the screening process, another key aspect of effective communication is going over with them the lease documents. Your lease documents are more than just a legal contract. They must also very plainly outline the responsibilities for both you and your tenants, comprising things such as landscaping maintenance, parking, and pets, to state a few. Your lease should also detail how you will handle future communication. It’s definitely an excellent idea to start early and encourage your tenant to communicate with you regularly. This is something that’s now made easier with software, apps, and online tenant portals. By simply ensuring that your tenant clearly understands the lease documents and extending them a chance to ask questions, you can really encourage them to take their responsibilities so much seriously.
Effective tenant communication doesn’t end when your tenant moves in, however. To continually keep the lines of communication open, you have to establish a set of guidelines for how and when regular communication will take place. As an instance, your lease should extend specific information in connection with how much notice you will provide tenants with before entering the property or performing routine maintenance. Often, this timeframe is specified in state or local landlord laws, however, you can also increase the timetable as a show of goodwill. Lots of experts suggest providing one week’s advance notice before routine maintenance may be accomplished and delivering that notice in more than one format (a phone call and an email, for illustration).
In the case of an emergency, effective communication takes on a new urgency. As a property owner, it is necessary to ensure that your tenants can contact you in the event of a serious problem with the property. It is additionally significant that your response is both prompt and proactive. You should address emergency repair requests as soon as possible, but no later than a few hours as soon as the tenant contacts you. It is equally substantial to communicate more often with a tenant in an emergency, sending updates of when and how repairs will be made and any actions the tenant should take. By making sure you are keeping the lines of communication open, you can enable your tenants to trust you and share better information concerning the condition of the property throughout their tenancy.
Finally, don’t forget to practice the golden rule in your communication with your tenants. Treating them with the same respect and courtesy that you expect from others can go a long way toward building good tenant relations and cultivating a culture of effective communication. Needless to say, hiring a trustworthy Frisco property manager is also a great way to ensure clear and effective communication with all your tenants. Contact us online or at 214-960-1612 today to learn more.