Good tenants are sometimes hard to find, and having unhappy tenants are just overall bad for business. Tenants with unresolved issues are less likely to renew and refer others to your property and are more likely to take to review sites first to publish their personal property experiences online. Knowing which top tenant complaints you can expect at your own property and how to tackle them head on when they arise will save you the headache and manpower in the long term. Here are four common tenant issues that you should prepare to address at your property:

1. Deposits/refunds

Confusion around security deposits is unfortunately one of the most popular issues that many properties encounter on a regular basis. Tenants are oftentimes unaware of all of the stipulations associated with their security deposit, which results in an unpleasant surprise come move-out day for both you and your tenant. To nip this confusion in the bud early on, you’ll want to personally review this portion of the lease with all of your new tenants upon move-in to ensure there are no outstanding questions that could potentially resurface later on. It’s also helpful to supply your tenants with move-out checklists and associated costs at the beginning and end of their lease term to minimize “tenant shock” at move-out.

2. Communication

Poor communication and customer service go hand in hand in the multifamily industry. When tenants complain about poor communication, they want to be kept informed of major rules and maintenance impacts at your property, as well as have their emails and/or phone calls returned in a timely manner. To address this communication discrepancy, you’ll need to first set a standard goal response time across your staff, which should typically be no more than 48 business hours. To ensure your renters are well aware of site projects and rule changes/updates in advance, a regular email blast and/or mailer can help supplement your existing efforts.

3. Maintenance

Whether it is a leaky faucet or flooding unit, when it comes to resolving maintenance issues at your property, responsiveness is key. In order to address these issues effectively and efficiently, you’ll need to ensure that you have a streamlined maintenance system established first. If your maintenance team is contracted, you’ll need to form a clear understanding in advance as to how they will handle progress updates to your leasing team and establish estimated turnaround times for some of the more common issues so that you can then relay the information back to your tenants.

4. Pesky pests

Infestations can be quite the scary feat to undertake–for both you and your tenants. Upon notification of these pesky pests, you’ll need to take action immediately–whether that means pulling your own maintenance staff to the affected unit or calling in for reinforcements. Delaying this issue by just one day has the potential to create extreme havoc for you both considering that insects have the potential to travel between units pretty quickly. To minimize the occurrence of such infestations, you should try to invest in monthly pest control service for your property, which is an amenity your tenants would also appreciate.  

Rentbot can help.

Rental complaints are unavoidable; but, there are actions that you can take now to reduce their frequency–starting with a great website. Knowing that the first interaction your tenants will likely have with your property is your property’s website, we carefully craft each of our Rentbot sites with renter convenience in mind. From our mobile-friendly, professional designs to our real time unit availability, online maintenance process and rental payments, you’ll be able to improve your communication, streamline your maintenance and simplify payment all the while attracting, converting, and retaining quality tenants–all through your website. It’s time you let your website work just as hard as you do. We’ll help tackle some of those complaints, giving you more time to focus on sealing the deal. Experience the Rentbot difference for free. Here’s how: https://www.rentbot.co/website-design/free-website-trial.  

About the Author

Jonsette Calloway joined the Rentbot team in 2015. With a background in public relations, advertising and copywriting, she has helped a multitude of clients achieve their marketing and communications goals within various fields, but she particularly enjoys working with the apartment industry.