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Helpful Tips to Keep Your San Francisco Tenants Happy
February 4, 2022
Balance Tenants Rights with Tenant Accountability
Happy tenants are an important element of a successful rental experience. In San Francisco, tenants have a lot of rights. There are vast tenant protections in place that cover everything from rent control to eviction to security deposits and background checks during the screening process.
This can make your relationship with your tenants feel adversarial. But it shouldn’t be.
Happy tenants are good tenants, and good tenants will pay rent on time, help you take care of your property, follow the terms of the lease agreement, and hopefully renew their leases and stay for the long term.
If you want to have a profitable and successful investment experience, keep your tenants happy. Here’s how we do it.
TENANT RETENTION IS GOOD FOR ROI
Serving your residents well isn’t just about tenant protections and being a good landlord. It also helps you financially. With fewer turnovers and a lower vacancy rate, you’ll save money on all those expenses that go into re-renting a home and finding a new resident.
1. MAKE YOUR EXPECTATIONS KNOWN
At the beginning of the lease period, talk to your tenants about what you expect. Discuss the lease and answer their questions. Your residents need to know things like:
- How they should pay rent.
- Which maintenance issues they’re responsible for.
- How to report maintenance and repair needs.
- What the HOA rules are, if your unit is in an association.
- How to reach you or your property manager if there’s an emergency.
All of this information is likely going to be in the lease agreement, but if you talk about it, you can reinforce those things and demonstrate your willingness to communicate with your tenants.
2. INVEST IN TECHNOLOGY FOR YOUR SAN FRANCISCO RENTAL HOME
San Francisco tenants want to pay rent online. They want to request repairs online. Make their lives easier by providing this type of technology so they can easily lease their home from you without the extra hassles, phone calls, and mailbox experiences.
Many tenants today are also looking for better technology in their homes. Make sure your property is set up to allow high speed internet. Provide a way for tenants to use Smart home technology. Things like video doorbells are popular, and while you don’t necessarily have to provide these features and pay for them, you do want to make sure your tenants are happy and satisfied with the technology they can access while living in the home.
3. RESPOND IMMEDIATELY TO MAINTENANCE ISSUES
Tenants have no patience for maintenance issues that get ignored. Treat each request with a sense of urgency, and keep your tenants in the loop as repairs are being made. If there’s going to be a delay, explain why.
One of the most common reasons for resident unhappiness is their maintenance issues not being responded to in a timely manner. Don’t let this happen.
4. WATCH YOUR RENTAL INCREASES
When you raise your rent, you’ll be thinking about two things: whether you’re complying with tenant protections and rent control laws, and whether the market supports the increase you want to make.
Be reasonable when you’ve got good tenants in place. Most residents will expect an increase when they renew the lease, but don’t chase them away with a much larger rent. Stay competitive.
Tenants will always value good communication.
Be prepared to communicate with your tenants openly and transparently. Make sure they feel comfortable reaching out to you. The best way to keep tenants happy is by remaining available, accessible, and responsive.
SAN FRANCISCO PROPERTY MANAGEMENT AND TENANT RETENTION
We understand the importance of retaining good tenants, and it’s something we do well as your San Francisco property manager. At BanCal Property Management, we’ve been effectively working with tenants since 1987. We focus on placing the best possible residents, and then working with them throughout the tenancy to make sure we’re meeting their expectations.
Author - Kelli Smith
A tenant move-out can be one of the most challenging parts of managing a rental property. There are keys to collect, inspections to complete, potential repairs to identify, security deposits to process, and a new tenant to prepare for. When expectations are unclear or important steps are left until the last minute, even a relatively straightforward move-out can become unnecessarily complicated. The good news is that many common move-out issues can be reduced with a clear, consistent process. For San Francisco landlords, a well-managed move-out is about more than ending one tenancy. It can help protect the condition of the property, reduce disputes, streamline turnover, and prepare the unit for its next resident. Here are five ways landlords can create a smoother move-out process.
Finding the right tenant is an important part of protecting a rental property, but not every strong applicant will meet every screening requirement on their own. An applicant may have limited credit history, insufficient income, or other financial circumstances that make it difficult to qualify. In these situations, a qualified co-signer or guarantor can provide an additional layer of financial protection while allowing an otherwise suitable applicant to secure housing. For landlords, however, accepting a co-signer or guarantor should involve more than adding another signature to the paperwork. Understanding the difference between the two, carefully screening the individual, and establishing consistent qualification criteria can help landlords make more informed leasing decisions.
Verify rent-control status, lawful base rent, banked increases, licenses and deposits before you buy or take over an SF building. Step-by-step checklist.
San Francisco owners must report to the Rent Board Housing Inventory by March 1 and hold a rent increase license before any annual or banked increase.
