Becoming a Landlord: How to Keep a Good Relationship with Your Tenants

Being a landlord comes with responsibilities. These include ensuring that the property or unit is safe to work or live in and providing an up-to-date EPC certificate or other certifications as your local government may require. But there are other factors that should be considered when renting out a building.

As a landlord, it’s important to maintain a good relationship with your tenants. By doing so, you can be confident that any issues will be communicated effectively and that your building is well looked-after. It also goes a long way to making it so that the tenant feels safe in their work environment and that they can rely on their landlord to maintain a comfortable space.

Our guide will give you tips on how to establish good communications and maintain a relationship with your tenants from which both parties can benefit.

Meet and greet

It’s important to put a face to a name as a landlord and you should always try to meet your new tenants in person, even if you’re using a letting agent.

You could arrange to show them around the property or building, so that they get to know with whom they’re entering into a contract. This also gives them the opportunity to ask any questions about the unit or the rental agreement.

Be available

Provide your tenants with up-to-date contact information so that they can get hold of you easily if there’s an issue. It’s also a good idea to give them emergency contact details in case of urgent problems. Make sure that you always take their calls or phone them back as soon as it’s convenient.

Carry out repairs

Ensure that you carry out routine maintenance and any repair work promptly so that the property remains safe and comfortable for your tenants and anyone else, such as customers, who might use the building.

Provide certificates after having any gas or electrical work completed and make sure that you choose reputable, registered gas engineers to carry out any relevant work.

Many landlords consider taking out commercial landlord insurance to give them extra peace of mind, so this is something you could consider doing also. 

Be mindful of rent increases

There might be times when you need to increase the rent on your commercial property. It’s always a good idea to check out other similar nearby rental costs so you that can be confident that your charges remain fair. Most importantly, make sure that you stay within the rules of your rental agreement or contract.

When renting out a unit or property, there’s no guarantee that everything will run smoothly all of the time. But by making sure that you have open communication and a good relationship with your tenants, you can deal with any potential issues in a timely manner and allow both parties to get the most out of the agreement.