So the perfect tenant has been found and you’re confident enough to go ahead with the tenancy. Fantastic. This is an important moment for you and your tenant.
The next few weeks for your tenant are going to be thrilling, yet stressful. Especially on moving day!
So, it’s crucial for you to get off on the right foot and make your tenant feel welcome, whilst also outlining simple ground rules and expectations. This will help establish an important business relationship between you and your new tenants.
What to Remember
Although this blog is designed to cover how to make your tenants feel at home in their new property, we understand that your property is your investment and your responsibility.
Being a Landlord comes with its benefits, disadvantages and sometimes problems although there are several ways to make life as a Landlord a total breeze
So make sure you think ten steps ahead.
Document every interaction with your tenants, make sure verbal agreements are followed up in writing and more importantly, have the right systems in place.
Your tenants are going to be overwhelmed with information when they first move in, so make sure everything is written down and supplied in a document like a Welcome Pack for when they move in.
If you don’t have one of these handy, click here to download our free template that you can give to your tenants.
Make Them Feel at Home
Moving into a new home is always a big deal for anybody. This is a massive moment for your tenants, so ensuring you get off on the right foot is crucial..
Be friendly and welcoming. Let them know you’re here to make their stay in their new home as comfortable as you can possibly make it but remember to maintain a professional, respectable relationship.
One primary way you can make your tenants feel welcome is by giving them the right information as to who to contact in case of emergencies, repairs or required maintenance.
Welcome gifts are also massively appreciated too. Inexpensive complimentary items like jars of coffee, teabags or biscuits are loved by many!
An additional small gesture that goes a long way is giving your tenant local takeaway menus, as not all tenants are going to feel up to cooking on their move-in date and may be unfamiliar with the local area.
It’s little things like the above that are going to make you a huge hit with your new occupiers.
Set expectations & ground rules early.
We can guarantee that not every tenant is going to understand what their responsibilities are straight off the bat. Making this crystal clear from the jump will serve to remove any confusion and potential disagreements.
However, it’s important to put this in writing.
Why, you ask?
Simple. Tenants expectations can sometimes be unreasonable, like expecting you to rush round to change a lightbulb. Small things like this can soon escalate and before you know it, they will start withholding rent unless you meet their demands.
And worse still, if you ever get into a dispute that goes to court, you’ll need every shred of evidence to make it clear that you’ve done your duty as a landlord.
Also, you want your property looked after. It is, after all, your income.
So, set in writing what you want from your tenant during their stay, or else your tenants might expect certain things from you that really, they should be taking care of themselves.
If this is done correctly?
Your tenants will know exactly what they should contact you for, and what they should sort out themselves.
Don't forget the legal stuff
Making sure your tenants have the right documentation like EPC, Gas Safety Certificates and EICRs is a legal requirement. You should also be giving the tenant details on the deposit protection scheme you’ve used.
Covering these essentials will protect you should any problems during the tenancy arise. We’ve covered this extensively in previous blogs regarding Section 8 & Section 21 notices which you can read here.
Have the right systems in place
All your interactions with your tenants should, for best practice, be documented. Even phone calls and text messages should be noted.
Having the right routines, processes and systems laid out should make your job as a Landlord twenty times easier than without, and trust us, we’ve seen how ugly it can get when disputes go to court and the Landlord hasn’t effectively put anything in place to protect themselves.
Bad tenants exist and even with the right tenant screening in place, you never know if someone’s circumstances are going to change.
Should you ever need to evict a tenant, you’ll need every single bit of evidence you can scrape together to prove you’ve used your due diligence especially to get the courts on your side.
A property management system like Alphaletz can help you effectively track rental income, monitor arrears and store the right documentation against particular properties. It’s the most effective form of cover for Landlords who are looking to shield themselves against tenant malpractice.
Help your tenants out with utilities
When a tenant first moves into a property, their first port of call is to look at utility providers and to get set up. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always go smoothly, and some tenants find themselves sitting in a new property for weeks without essentials like Wi-Fi.
So, why not make it simple for them and use the Alphaletz’ Utilities feature?
Our intuitive property management platform allows you to send out utilities offers to tenants within just a few clicks.
The advantages of using Alphaletz Utilities as a Landlord are…
- Great, competitive pricing for your tenants.
- Services include gas, electric, broadband & more!
- We notify existing suppliers too!
- Makes life much easier for your tenant!
- Earn passive income within a couple clicks!
Alphaletz Utilities is a feature within the Alphaletz Property Management App, which you can try free by clicking the button below!
Provide a Welcome Pack to Each Tenant
Hands down the best way to welcome a tenant is providing a thorough Welcome Pack.
This helps you as a Landlord provide absolutely everything a tenant might need. Welcome Packs typically cover things like expectations from a Landlord to a tenant, the location of gas & electric meters and the water stopcock all the way through to legal compliance documents that your tenant will need.
It’s an effective checklist that you can pretty much use yourself so you’re not leaving anything out. More importantly, it helps you enhance the tenant move in experience without too much leg work.
If you don’t have your own, don’t worry. We’ve got a tenant welcome pack that we’ve designed. It’s free, comprehensive and covers everything that you and your tenants need to know.
Free New Tenants Welcome Pack Template Download
Grab yourself a copy of our free, customisable welcome pack and enhance your move-in experiences.