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How To Encourage Existing Student Tenants to Stay

It’s January; the new term has started. For students and landlords alike, that means one thing – renting property for the next academic year. Students tend to move around as they make new friends and prefer other housemates for the next year. Students prefer to do what is easiest and what would be easiest, in this case, is living in the same accommodation for a second year. If your current student tenants are not finalists and have not yet begun looking for somewhere else, here is how you encourage them to stay.

 

Arrange to Meet Early this Term

Unless you approach them first to discuss your wishes for them to stay another year, they will assume your indifference. The second term is now well underway. Contact them soon to schedule a meeting to discuss their intentions; that will give you first refusal. Try to get a feel for what they are currently thinking. Hopefully, they’ve given it little thought. This is your opportunity to make an offer they can’t refuse.

 

Reduce the Rent Slightly

According to a September 2017 report, the student market is stagnating. Students can expect to pay about the same rent as they paid this year. Offering a small discount may prove too tempting to resist. With a year of living independently under their belt, they can plan effectively and understand what their outgoings will be for the next year. The only scenario where this may be refused is that the area is too expensive – in which case you are unlikely to find an agreeable reduction.

 

Ask for Input on Improvements

Students are generally not picky but there may be problems with the accommodation restrictive enough to encourage them not to want to stay. That single glazed window in the back room, the messy garden, the sticky lock, or the lack of security features. By asking for potential improvements and vowing to correct them over the summer break is your chance to present yourself as the caring landlord. Students want to know that you care about their welfare beyond your legal obligations. Correcting small problems can go a long way to encouraging them to stay.

 

Lay the Groundwork from Day One

It could be that the good (or bad) work is already done. If you’ve been a responsive landlord, then they may already wish to stay with you to avoid losing a good relationship. Although students want the functional things (a television, broadband from day one), what they need is a landlord who responds to problems, communicates when the gas reader, electrician, plumber and other tradespeople are coming, and deals with problems promptly. If you’ve kept up your end of the bargain and treated them as a valuable customer, they will want to come back.