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Property management tips every landlord should know
Landlords find themselves competing in an increasingly competitive market, challenged by supply and demand weakness, rising costs and growing rafts of regulation. For the tenant, prices continue to skyrocket in attractive areas, and the speed of movement can leave many frustrated. Here are 6 tips for landlords to help improve their business performance and keep tenants and their business partners happy.
Don’t ignore old-fashioned approaches like sign boards
You might do most of your work digitally via a website, but landlord signs demonstrate to a huge number of passers-by that your business is active, delivering properties for renters. Use letting boards smartly to put your messages across, including if you’re buying properties, looking for good tenants and so on.
Keep them clean, have them moved when not required and modernise them with a QR code leading to a specific property or your webpage. Simple ideas are often the best and boards and flyers still form a key part of the landlords’ media and communications arsenal, as long as they are not boring and forgettable.
Maximise revenue with a rent guarantee
As a route to protecting your business income, a rent guarantee is a recent innovation helping ensure that landlords will still get their rent in the case of vanishing tenants. These schemes are an extra cost for the landlord, but guaranteed rent payments, legal fees covered and other benefits can cover shortfalls in rent, vital in a volatile market.
A rent guarantee can protect your business revenue, your mortgage payments and livelihood, all at a low-cost and with the flexibility to cover other costs should you have a problematic or unfortunate tenant. Multiple vendors offer rent guarantees, so compare the value of each product and how it benefits your circumstances for each property.
Become a vetting master
Newer landlords need to quickly learn the signs that all is not as it should be with a prospective tenant. There are businesses that can handle the process for you, but finding high-quality tenants is a key part of growing your business.
While the process typically follows application forms, credit checks, income verification and references, cast your net broader to check their social media posts, work posts and career history on LinkedIn, and if they are local, don’t be afraid to check with other landlords you think they may have used.
On the soft skills side of vetting, listen out of any hesitation during any part of the process. Interview them in-person to judge their communications and how they respond to probing or broader questions to identify any sense of risk.
Keep up on the legislation and financial changes
Like any business, the landlord profession is full of changing rules and regulations you need to monitor and adhere to. These stretch from the right to rent rules across meeting environmental legislation, and ensuring your data privacy systems are in order.
Among the many key tasks a landlord is responsible for are ensuring that deposits are protected, issues like gas and electrical safety are addressed with regular inspections. Fire safety and protective systems are installed, EPC certificates are in place, and ready for the imminent minimum C rating. Failing to maintain any of these can put the landlord’s business in jeopardy, so are a major focal point of their operational efforts.
Automate and digitise your tasks
From maintenance schedules to billing, vetting processes to hunting for new properties, there are a range of tools for landlords from specialist software as a service (SaaS) packages to AI-powered systems. These work on smartphones or laptops, enabling busy landlords to keep on top of their schedule and make decisions on the go.
Software is also helpful in managing finances, invoices, taxes and other aspects of landlord income. Applications can provide rapid notifications of upcoming or missed payments, and as your business expands, colleagues can access and update information as it changes, taking the stress off the main landlord.
AI might not sound a natural wingman for landlords, but new AIs like Google’s Gemini can help with your research and other tasks. They can answer questions like “List 5 postcodes in the BCP council area that have good prospects for home rental properties in 2026 and beyond.” Helping you explore new towns or markets, or narrowing down areas, looking for local insights and more.
This approach can save landlords many hours of research. And while they will still need plenty of ground time, the AIs are getting smarter every month, adding more detail and insight to their reports.
Build great relationships with partners and tenants
Landlords need to develop a positive customer experience with their tenants, trades, business partners and even rival landlords. A good relationship with everyone they meet, even during stressful moments, makes for a business that people are happy to work with.
That involves open communications, being early to deal with potential issues and being fair-minded when there are queries. As the business grows, landlords should adopt a professional approach to business partners, but remain human and accessible to tenants and others they work with.
Conclusion
This approach means people are more likely to provide tips on new properties, tenants won’t be afraid to come to the landlord with their problems before they become major ones. And tenants will trust them more when looking for their next property.
By taking to heart these property management tips, landlords will be better placed to deal with and navigate the complexities and issues that arise through any rental. They also make the business a more confident organisation, bringing stability and growth, whatever the market conditions.
