Nurturing a good relationship with tenants is an important responsibility for property managers for many reasons. Not only does it establish a positive image for your business, your renter turnover will be reduced as well when tenants are assured in your ability to resolve liability and safety concerns. In order to achieve this, property managers must be responsible for protecting all persons and remaining compliant under the HUD rules. However, keeping up with HUD updates can be overwhelming since the conduct for responding is dependent on current legislation to address the endless list of duties towards the property and the occupants.
No matter how well you maintain your properties under compliance, property managers will have to address common concerns at any moment. Be prepared to address these concerns with E3 Housing who offers a HUD Compliance Training Program can train property managers with online or onsite training courses to guide and offer solutions to these common tenant complaints that arise during onboarding, tackling resident concerns, self-auditing tenants files and much more.
Handling tenant complaints in the right manner can go a long way in alleviating their concerns, increasing tenant retention, maximizing profits, and help establish a reputation as a company that cares about the well-being and safety of their occupants. Here are some of the most common issues and solutionsbe it maintenance issues or contract renewal, that can affect the lives and daily schedules of property managers:
A couple of quick tips for reducing turnovers:
Keeping updated with the changes: Don’t be a stranger! Keeping updated with the new rules and major updates to HUD as well as upcoming events, like inspections, ensures that the property is managed well in a legal manner.
Ensure that work orders are completed in a timely manner: The most common tenant complaints typically stem from maintenance and repair. This is relatively easy to address as it’s the role of the property manager to find the technician to fix it and ensure routine inspection of each property so such issues will arise less often.
Most frequent tenant issues:
Maintenance Problems: The concerns of maintenance is imperative for a healthy landlord-tenant relationship, especially since it is most affected by HUD rules and regulations. Tenants don’t always know who to count on for certain repairs but they should be able to rely on property managers to help connect them to the right resources for their issues. The first step to handling such complaints quickly and smoothly is by setting up an effective method that professional compliance training programs can share with property managers. Through these onsite or online training programs, property managers can gain insight into HUD compliance and help streamline the help process to address tenant concerns. These programs are not just general statements of what should be done, but these are based on real-time examples that can help property managers come up with the right solutions to the problems.
2. Handling tenants: Complaints from tenants can keep pouring on a day-to-day basis. Most complaints related to repairs can be easily managed if communicated well. However, the most time-consuming aspect of the property manager’s job is to screen the tenants. There is a lot that goes into the process, from interviewing to checking for proper documentation and requesting background checksA common pitfall property managers find themselves in is screening tenants in a non-discrimantory manner. With the online webinar, you can learn how to self-audit your tenant files and go through the specific information and documents per HUD regulations. With completion of the course, you would be able to catch or fix any issues relating to the files.
Lack of communication: Nothing is more detrimental to your tenant relationship than being an unavailable or late responder to their communication. No matter how small you believe the issue to be, make sure to address the concerns promptly and give them a tentative date to resolve their query. Be responsive and make sure that phone calls and emails get returned quickly. Ensure that they are treated well and their questions receive the right answers.
Anyone in the housing industry will admit that it is impossible to avoid problems. However, the two ways to manage these issues are to stay updated and take immediate action. The complaints or concerns are never going to stop but the more measurable action you take, the more opportunity you will have to improve your image and relationships. All this demands good time management which is a part of being a property manager. Minimize the stress of staying current by enrolling in online HUD training courses to receive the best education at your own pace. Keep it simple, keep updating and keep growing.
