As a landlord or host, it’s important to have trustworthy tenants occupying your property. That way, you can feel reassured that your property will be treated with respect. Choosing the right tenant might also mean establishing a mutual relationship where both you and your tenant feel safe and are able to communicate issues to one another.
If you have decided on short-term letting, your property will most likely be occupied by a consistent stream of guests throughout the year, usually looking to stay for a couple of nights.
Should you decide on long-term letting instead, your tenants will have more responsibility for the general upkeep and maintenance of the property during their tenancy.
Depending on these two distinctions, you might make different choices when considering potential tenants. It’s important that you take time to think about who your ideal tenant might be – you should only let your property to someone who you feel comfortable allowing control, even if it’s just for a couple of days!
Consequently, it’s important to make sure any potential tenant is the right fit!
So, if you’re looking to let out your property, here are three tips to keep in mind.
1. Tenant Screening
Making informed decisions about what guests you feel will be right for your property is key. With tenant screening, hosts can ask the guest questions about their stay before either accepting or declining their reservation request. These questions might include finding out the purpose of their stay, what they have planned or who they will be travelling with.
The main disadvantages to tenant screening for hosts are that it could reduce occupancy and all reservation requests typically need to be responded to within 24 hours.
If you do decide to screen tenants, it may help you reduce the likelihood of your property getting a negative review, as well as pinpointing what types of guests to avoid. For example, are they likely to leave the place untidy or get noise complaints from your neighbours?
Tenants can also apply with government verification, which includes a passport, driving licence, identity card, etc. This can give you more confidence and reassurance that the guest is more likely to respect the property and leave it in the same condition as they found it.
2. Establish Guest Rules
When listing your property, you should add rules for guests to comply with. These house rules allow hosts to establish expectations of guests before they are due to stay in your property.
Having house rules in place will give you more confidence that your property is in safe hands whilst a guest is residing there. If any rules are broken, you have a means of pursuing financial compensation from the offending party if they agree to your terms before taking up residence. When guests come to making a reservation at your property, they’ll be required to agree to these house rules before paying.
House rules can include: Smoking policy (i.e. if guests can smoke, if not, where they are able to smoke), no parties, pets policy, no excessive volume of noise (after certain hours / in general), check-in and check-out times, restrictions on inviting additional guests into the property, cleaning policy (i.e. leaving dirty dishes and an untidy property).
3. Open Communication Channels
Having a communicative relationship with your potential tenant is extremely important in making the right decision. This isn’t just the duty of the tenant, but also your duty too! Take the tip above, for example. If you haven’t properly communicated house rules to your tenant, they may unknowingly break them!
If your tenant needs something from you, then they need to feel that they have the opportunity to communicate this with you. In the same way, you need to feel able to communicate what you need from your tenant.
The only way to do this is to firstly find tenants you feel comfortable with. Then, open up a communication channel with those tenants. Remember, your tenants need to be able to communicate with you, just as much as you need to communicate with them!
In Conclusion…
Screening your tenants and establishing guest rules are two of the easiest and most important steps to ensuring you find the right tenants for your property. Without communication, however, this can quickly fall apart!
Maintaining a line of communication with your tenants can be time consuming, especially if you have numerous properties or tenants. This is why it might be a good idea to outsource your property management to a company like Keey.
Our expert team manages all guest communication, reservations, and can screen prospective tenants for you, so you don’t need to worry about deciding between two candidates or issues arising from an unpaid bill.
We use professional photographers and high-quality marketing strategies to create listings that can best promote your property.
Keey takes the hassle out of renting your property. If this sounds like the option for you, get in touch with Keey today or check out our services.