Phone and Email
At a minimum, you should have a dedicated phone line and email for your rental property business. This applies whether you have one rental property or a dozen. A phone number and email are the most professional way for tenants to contact you. Having a dedicated phone and email can ensure that all communications are routed through the proper channels, that communications are documented, and that there’s nothing that falls through the cracks.
Emergency Maintenance Line
Another crucial communication tool to put into place 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 clear to the tenant that this is an emergency line only. This will help confirm that tenants only use this line for emergencies and that they recognize there may be additional charges for using this service.
Tenant Portal
Another good way to stay in touch with your tenants and ensure all communications are routed through the proper channels is to set up a tenant portal. A tenant portal is an online system that lets tenants present non-emergency maintenance requests, pay rent, and contact you all in one place. A tenant portal is designed especially for property owners and landlords, and most allow you and your tenants to send messages and information back and forth. By using a tenant portal, you can stay organized and guarantee that all communications are properly documented.
Social Media
If you are good with using social media to promote your rental properties, you may likewise want to think about employing it as a way to communicate with your tenants. This is a great way to provide tenants with updates on maintenance, changes to the property, or any other important information. They can also ask questions and allow you to respond to concerns. If you decide to use social media for tenant communication, be 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 require more than one form of communication. But no matter which options you choose, it’s important to set clear ground rules about when and why your tenant should contact you. It would help if you also had clear, pre-determined consequences for when tenants try to go around your rules. One of the best things you can do is to model and encourage respectful communication and consistently enforce your boundaries. By being clear about your expectations, you can help guarantee that communications with your tenant are appropriate and sent through proper channels.
The bottom line is that no matter what method or combination of methods you choose for tenant communication, it’s important to be professional, consistent, and clear. Another great way to handle tenant communications is to hire a professional property management company like Real Property Management Brevard to do it for you. Contact us online to learn more about our tenant portal and other professional property management tools.