7 Ways to Create A Positive Landlord-Tenant Relationship

Published: 07/12/2023

As a landlord in Morden, letting your property to new tenants may understandably make you a little nervous. The best way to ensure that your tenant and you have the best possible experience is to build a positive landlord-tenant relationship.

Experienced landlords are well aware that the key to a successful rental property lies in attracting quality tenants and maintaining their satisfaction for the long haul. Long tenancies translate to fewer turnovers, reduced paperwork, and limited void periods.

The Benefits Of A Strong Relationship


A strong rapport between a landlord and tenant can alleviate the pressures associated with managing rentals, and provide positive experiences for both parties, ensuring higher retention rates and a sense of security. Just as any relationship flourishes on trust and mutual respect, so should the one between landlord and tenant. For landlords, trusting their tenants to care for the property as though it's their own is essential. Conversely, tenants need the assurance that their landlord will diligently maintain the property they have made their home, ensuring it remains safe.

So, having an excellent landlord-tenant relationship will keep tenants happy, encourage them to take good care of your property, and help persuade them to renew once their initial tenancy ends.

Forecasts suggest that by 2025, rental properties will make up 40% of the market, strengthening the need to prioritise a strong landlord-tenant relationship now and into the future. However, creating and sustaining such connections is not always a natural process and requires excellent management.

With this in mind, the Ellisons team have put together our best recommendations for creating a mutually advantageous partnership. Here are our tips to help landlords create the best relationship with tenants.

1. Good Communication Is Key

Before your new tenant moves in, communicate with them effectively to establish the house rules. Communicating expectations early helps avoid tension later, for example, should they want to redecorate or keep a pet.

2. Supply Your Contact Details

Tenants need to have a reliable person they can contact if they experience a problem, so make sure you’ve supplied your contact details and those of another trusted person who can efficiently deal with issues if you’re unavailable.

3. Leave A Guide For Tenants In The Property

Creating a handbook for your new tenants will help make settling in easier. Include details about how to use the heating system, the kitchen equipment, and the shower, as well as any other appliances. It’s also a good idea to include information about refuse collection day and local amenities like dentists, doctors, and supermarkets so they can familiarise themselves if they are new to the area.

4. Respond Quickly To Any Issues

If your tenant raises any issues, resolving them rapidly will go a long way towards ensuring a positive tenant-landlord relationship. Your tenants want to be reassured that you care about their well-being and the property, so arranging repairs as quickly as possible is critical.

5. Be Prepared To Be Flexible

When you find good tenants, holding onto them makes sense! That means being prepared to have a flexible attitude when renewing their tenancy. If they request a change or fix to enable them to continue their contract, taking a flexible approach to negotiations is wise.

6. Offer Longer Tenancies

With more people looking for rental properties in Morden, there is an increased desire for longer tenancies. Many tenants want the security of remaining in the property for the long term. When you find reliable tenants, consider offering them a longer tenancy. Not only does this benefit the tenants, but it also helps you since you’ll reduce the risk of having void periods between tenancies.

7. Use A Property Management Company in Morden

One of our best tips to ensure a positive tenant-landlord relationship is to use the services of a reliable local property management company in Morden. Just like Ellisons! Not only will we help to maximise your rental returns, but we will also take over all the challenging and time-consuming elements of managing your property. We will deal with inspections and all the day-to-day management of your property, like emergency repairs and more complex essentials like tenancy agreements, deposits, and rent collection.

We are very conscientious about who we appoint to carry out any required work. That’s why we will always request alternative quotes when dealing with any maintenance that’s required.

This means you can get on with what's important to you, while leaving the responsibility of managing your property and maintaining a positive landlord-tenant relationship, to us.

We'll cover the legal stuff too! It’s rare, but sometimes landlords experience problems with tenants. Without the right experience and knowing the correct procedures it can become challenging to deal with. But it's all in a day’s work for us. We’re diplomatic and will carefully consider the best way of dealing with any given scenario, whether that's non-payment of rent, anti-social behaviour or any other delicate issue. In the event a legal approach is required, we’ve got it covered.

Keep Landlord – Tenant Relationships On Track!

The team at Ellisons are experts in the Morden rental market. Our team are ARLA (The Association of Residential Lettings) trained and qualified, meaning that no chances are taken when looking after your property.

We represent hundreds of landlords throughout the Morden area. They feel secure knowing that we carry out regular property inspections enabling us to spot potential problems before they become financially draining.

If you’re a landlord with rental properties in Morden and are considering property management services, then our team at Ellisons would love to hear from you. Please email us at propmanagement@ellisons.uk.com or call us on 020 8545 2185 to see how we can make your rental property ownership more rewarding for you.

We also deal with property management in Wimbledon, Raynes Park, Colliers Wood, Merton Park, Motspur Park, West Wimbledon and Tooting areas.

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