Dealing with difficult tenants can make your job as a landlord incredibly hard. And let’s face it; if you don’t do a bang-up job screening them out, these bad tenants can slide into your property. Some will play ridiculously loud music to the wee hours of the morning, while others are notorious for late payments month after month. Don’t get me started on loud parties and the messy “guy.”
Try the following tips of good tenancy to tame the difficult tenant without much hassle.
#1. Stay Calm and Rational
It’s only understandable to get a little edgy with an errant tenant. Nonetheless, being quick-tempered can escalate an otherwise easily manageable thing, into a worse situation. Don’t let emotions cloud your judgment when trying to resolve the problem with the tenant in question. Trust me; your tenants are more likely to be responsive and receptive to your “talk” if you appear tactful, calm, and collected.
#2. Lure them to your side
As counterintuitive as this might sound, it’s often fabulous to go out on a limb to get tenants on your side. Whether that means promptly replying to emails or making repairs quickly, a touch of kindness can do wonders when dealing with a bad tenant.
#3. Keep a Tab on “Bad” Incidences
Keep written records of everything that transpires with your tenants. Although this will likely hike your workload, it’ll make resolving disputes effortlessly easy. Such records, for example, will offer you good ground for evictions.
#4. Train your Tenants How to Treat you
You should make it abundantly clear that certain behaviors and habits are not condoned in the property. And do follow up on your word. If you reprimand late payment immediately, for instance, you will dial down dramatically any chances of a repeat.
#5. Late Payments – Dealing with late rent
Late payment has become one of the most rampant problems facing landlords today. While cash flow problems can be the primary culprit, tenants can also default on rent because of issues with maintenance and repairs.
- Offer structured payment options: mistakes do happen. That’s why it’s crucial that you create a payment option for tenants who have cash flow problems. Consider a different payment structure for tenants who get paid weekly and biweekly.
- Screen tenants properly: check for credit, criminal background, employment record, and so forth to ascertain if the tenant will have payment problems ahead of time.
- Reprimand first-time defaulters: if you do so, you will likely keep the tenant from being late again.
#6. Dealing with messy clients
Messy tenants can be a huge turn off for other tenants. It’s important to warn the errant tenant in writing. This way, you can evict them without much hassle if they continue with poor upkeep.
Conclusion
Top notch property managers Leo Chrenko, has shared their team’s full rental management process here so other aspiring landlords could understand how to deal with tenants efficiently and professionally.