Managing tenant relationships

Like any relationship, developing friendly, mutual and healthy connections is important. Not everyone sees eye-to-eye all the time, and that’s okay, but when conflict does arise it’s best to handle things with a level head.

As a landlord, getting to know your tenants personally may seem appropriate – and in some cases, you may already have a relationship with them, be it family or friends. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, developing a relationship – outside of professional – is by no means necessary.

Simply put, allow your property manager to be the mutual connection.

While it may be tempting to contact the tenant directly to gain access, complete maintenance etc., it is important that the correct avenues are followed to ensure that you are not in breach of your lease agreement.

The same can be said for your tenants contacting you directly. While it may have been beneficial at some point in the past, if issues begin to rise and unwanted contact occurs, it can be tricky to navigate.

Like most things in life, circumstances can change, people can change, and keeping the relationship between tenant and landlord strictly professional can help ease the strain on that relationship should issues arise.

During business hours, and often well beyond those, your property manager’s time is committed to looking after the day to day running of multiple properties, including your own. When everything is running smoothly – great tenant, property in great condition – there may be less need for communication, but if, and when, it comes to dealing with issues or concerns, or changes to tenancy, the property manager’s priority is to manage this on your behalf while keeping you fully informed.

Throughout the business of life, everyone’s individual priorities are different. It is your property manager’s job to ensure your property’s priorities are met.

Clear, direct communication is important for maintaining a mutual level of respect.