When renting a single-family rental property, your tenants must have simple methods to contact you. Not only is this excellent for keeping an eye on your important property, but it can also help you maintain a special connection with your tenant. At the same time, there are reasons not to give your tenants your personal phone number and email, not least of which is the temptation for the tenant to abuse the privilege. So, what are the best ways for tenants to contact you? Let’s examine some of the best ways for tenants to get in touch with their landlords or Altamonte Springs property owners, as suggested by the pros.
Phone and Email
Initially, you should have a dedicated phone line and email for your rental property business. This is accurate whether you have one rental property or a dozen. A phone number and email are the most professional approach for tenants to communicate with you. Having a separate phone and email may guarantee that all communications are routed through the proper channels, that communications are documented, and that nothing slips through the gaps.
Emergency Maintenance Line
Another key communication tool to implement is an emergency maintenance line your tenants can call after regular office hours. This line should be answered by a live person, not a recording, and it should be obvious to the tenant that this is an emergency line only. This will help guarantee that tenants only use this line for emergencies and that they realize there may be additional charges for using this service.
Tenant Portal
Another wonderful strategy to stay in touch with your tenants and ensure all communications are handled through the correct channels is to configure a tenant portal. A tenant portal is an online system that enables tenants to file non-emergency maintenance requests, pay rent, and contact you all in one site. A tenant portal is created specifically for property owners and landlords, and most permit you and your tenants to send messages and information back and forth. By utilizing a tenant portal, you can remain organized and ensure that all communications are fully documented.
Social Media
If you are familiar with using social media to promote your rental properties, you may also need to consider using it as a way to communicate with your tenants. This is a perfect tool to provide tenants with updates on maintenance, changes to the property, or any other essential information. They can also ask questions and allow you to respond to concerns. If you want to use social media for tenant communication, make sure to use a private messaging system or private page so that your conversations are not made public.
Set Clear Boundaries
Communicating effectively with tenants may need more than one form of communication. But irrespective of which options you choose, it’s critical to set clear ground rules about when and why your tenant should contact you. It would be best if you also had clear, pre-determined consequences for when tenants try to go around your rules. One of the ideal actions you can do is to model and encourage respectful communication and consistently enforce your boundaries. By being specific about your expectations, you can assist in ensuring that communications with your tenant are appropriate and sent through proper channels.
The bottom line is that irrespective of what method or combination of methods you choose for tenant communication, it’s vital to be professional, consistent, and straightforward. Another fantastic option to handle tenant communications is to hire a professional property management company like Real Property Management Vanguard to do it for you. [Contact us] online to learn more about our tenant portal and other professional property management tools.
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