Most tenants wouldn’t consider their landlord a friend. A lease agreement puts you in a committed relationship with your landlord, and like any relationship, it can end on either good terms or bad. However, keep in mind that the way the relationship ends is dependent on both the actions of the tenant and the landlord.
Maintaining a healthy relationship with your landlord can directly impact your lifestyle, comfort and finances. Few tenants understand how to effectively communicate with their landlords, but a good rapport will be helpful to living in the best conditions possible, getting faster responses for maintenance requests and continuing rental prices that are reasonable. Below are some tips to maintain or improve your landlord-tenant relations.
Pay on time- This may sound simple enough, but there are some tenants that take advantage of their landlords. Most landlords will understand if you are going through a short-term financial problem, but you must communicate with them in order to find a suitable alternative that works for both parties. A nonpaying, non-communicating tenant is one of the worst types of tenants to be.
Be reasonable with your requests- There are definitely some maintenance requests that have to be handled by your landlord, but you shouldn’t call them for minor requests such as changing a lightbulb or a smoke detector battery. Try to be considerate; if you have a small issue that you can’t resolve on your own, wait until a bigger problem arises and ask your landlord to handle both issues to save multiple trips.
Follow the terms of your lease- It is best to read your lease in full before signing and address any concerns you may have at that time. Keep a copy of your lease handy so that you can refer to it later for clarity or even negotiate the terms in the future.
If, for any reason, your relationship with your landlord has become out of your control, there are services such as GBCA’s Housing Coalition that provides landlord-tenant outreach and guidance for low to moderate income individuals and families at no cost. For more information about our services or to apply call (201) 488-6767.