What should Landlords do to encourage Tenants to stay longer??

talulahbeige_2

- Treat me with the respect due as I am a human being too

- Do the jobs that need doing, without trying to dodge your responsibilities

- Remember that I'm looking after your house and if you can't be bothered to maintain it then why shoudl i bother to do all but the bare minimum.

donquine

1. Keep charges reasonable. If you want to credit check me, I have no objections, but that's for your own peace of mind not mine, so I have no intention of paying for it. I can provide references, proof of employment, proof of income and savings etc - so if my word isn't good enough for you, pay for your own checks!

Similarly, if you want to appoint an agent because you don't want to deal with me, you pay the fees. It was your choice, not mine. Even better, ditch the agent. Let's talk. It's good to talk and I promise I won't call you every day - only get in touch when it's important. Agencies can make life difficult for both the tenant and the LL. Cut them out.

If you want to put my rent up, it should only be because rents for comparable properties in the area are going up too. Don't punish me for your poor choice of mortgage. If it's a reasonable increase, I will grumble inwardly but continue to pay it - if it's far too high, I'll give you notice. Would you expect otherwise?

2. Respect my right to quiet enjoyment. I don't throw house parties and/or walk around with a hammer smashing things in my rental property, but that doesn't mean I'm happy for you to come round whenever you please. I quietly enjoy my property in a slightly messy way, so need a bit of notice to clean before you come round or I die of shame. If you give me ample warning, I'm happy for you to pop round and do maintenance etc whilst I'm at work - I'm not an unreasonable tenant. I just like a bit of notice! If we have a good relationship, I'll even put up with viewings at the end of my tenancy and they're a right pain. Communication is key.

3. Fix things when they break. It doesn't matter what the law says is reasonable, going without hot water and/or heating for as long as one day can make life fairly miserable. I don't expect miracles - if you outsource your maintenance to a plumber or electrician, I appreciate there may be a delay in being able to get someone round - but I would like a bit of empathy and for you to try your best to get it dealt with asap. Other things can wait, but being cold means being sad. If a plumber can't come round for a couple of days, tell me upfront and sound apologetic. I don't expect you to put me up in a hotel (I'll just go stay with friends), but I do expect you to relate to how horrible it is!

wantonnoodle

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

To be fair, many old houses are just built like that, you can't have cavity wall insulaltion because there are no cavity walls. Not a lot the owner can do about that.

You may not have cavity walls to insulate, but I would hope that in those cases a decent landlord would have the place dry lined.

The owner of the flat next door to us had it done and it makes a big difference in winter. Our landlord won't do anything like that, which is one of the reasons we're moving out next weekend.

princeofpounds

Another BIG vote for being allowed to decorate. I don't even mean repainting walls, I just mean hanging pictures. Even if you can't face that, providing some well-placed hooks would be appreciated. And agreeing what constituted a repair of a hook-hole would be useful, no more worries about claims to repaint the entire wall for a pinhole. So often it feels like you are living in a museum.

I think it also helps to be clear what you want as a landlord well before the end of a tenancy. If I have a 12 month tenancy I am already worrying by month 6 what the landlord's intentions might be, and that leads me to consider alternative options, some of which I might decide I might prefer eventually. Anyone who thinks that a 6th month tenancy is in any way long will realise that the worry point comes at 3 months - that's only 12 weeks of peace of mind before you have to think about the possibility of being kicked out.

Offering a good tenancy length is also valuable to tenants who might actually want to stay. But this is quite individual - you often will get a tenant that would like to stay indefinitely but their lack of job security is such that their immediate commitment cannot be large. I think a lot of boomers, who tend to be landlords, just don't realise that the world is a different and less secure place (in employment and economic terms) for younger people, who tend to be renters, than it was for them.

Agents are not all bad, but many are. My experience has been 50% really bad, 25% ok, 25% good. That's been gathered across quite a sample of rentals, so I don't think it is that unrepresentative of anyone who has been renting throughout university and their early professional life.

Also offer to be proactive on problems. I'd divide this into two topics - the first is treating disrepair as a householder would. So many landlords think that tenants will put up with things they wouldn't put up with in their own home although they are borderline functional - wonky shelving, dribbling showers, sunken sofas etc.

The second side of things is actually offering some maintenance budget to the tenant to address issues that are not disrepair but that do matter and you wouldn't notice if you weren't living there. Offer them a new choice of colour on an accent wall, or let them replace the most shoddy piece of white good equipment, or ask them if they want a piece of furniture replaced, which would it be?