You’ve put your rental property on the market and still haven’t heard back from any potential tenants. You’re beginning to wonder about what you’ve done wrong and how to end the rental vacancy. Well, we’re here to help you out of this conundrum by discussing some of the top reasons why your rental property is still vacant. Use our tips to pinpoint exactly what’s going wrong and fix the error to line up some tenants that would be eager to call your rental unit their home.
Top Reasons Why Your Rental Property Is Still Vacant
Rental vacancies can take a toll on your income sources and become a hurdle when it comes to cash flow. However, if you know how to end the rental vacancy, you might be able to save your property from displaying the dreaded “vacant” sign for long. Here are some of the top causes of rental vacancies:
- Unjustified Rent
- Insufficient Marketing
- Unrealistic Expectations
- Disrespectful Property Managers
- Rigid Screening Process
- Poor Upkeep
- Undesirable Features
Let’s discuss each of these causes of rental vacancies in detail now.
Unjustified Rent
The biggest cause of a rental vacancy is that you are demanding a rent that is higher than what is justified for your particular property in your specific area. If you’re charging more rent in comparison to your neighbours, or similar rentals in the area, you’ll automatically lose out on a chunk of potential tenants who could have chosen your unit over others if you had priced it right.
However, now that you know one of the top reasons why your rental property is still vacant, what can you do about it? Well, you could choose to wait for someone desperate enough to pay higher for a place to rent, but that means waiting for an indefinite time while your unit lies empty and in wait of the next tenant. In contrast, lowering the price to a competitive level might just help you snag a good tenant immediately.
If you do not want to lower the rent for your property, but want to end its vacancy, consider adding a few amenities to the apartment or house. High-end appliances, a dedicated parking spot, and an easy-to-maintain yard are a few examples you can add to your rental unit to boost its value in the eyes of potential tenants and justify its higher rental rate.
Remember that finding the rent too high is not just related to the monthly rent. If you’re asking for a security deposit that is too high, you will automatically lose some potential tenants who might not have the savings to pay you upfront. Ask around in your neighbourhood and determine how much of the rent is being paid in advance. The security deposit might be anywhere between one to three or six months’ rent in advance at the time of moving into the rental property.
Insufficient Marketing
The key to finding a good tenant is to market your rental unit for what it’s worth. Irrespective of how long it has been on the market, you can rarely expect a tenant to approach you about the property if you’re not using all of the appropriate marketing channels to bring it into the spotlight. The best way to market your property is via word-of-mouth, by hiring a real estate agent or property manager, or by listing it online on listing sites like Zameen.com, where thousands of users are searching for their next new home/rental every day.
Your marketing strategy should always be on point, showcasing the best features of your rental property without raising false expectations about what it has to offer. You also need to figure out the target audience for your marketing campaign. Do you want to rent the flat to a young couple? Is your home perfect for a family with elderly relatives? Do you have enough space to accommodate a large family with kids?
Determine the kind of tenants that would be the best fit for your property. Then state your requirements and specifications when you advertise your property, so you are only contacted by the right tenants, saving time and effort on both ends. The renter requirements can also include inviting tenants of a certain income slab, mentioning the security deposit beforehand, disclosing your pets’ policy, explaining the duration of the rental lease, and so on.
When it comes to marketing, never underestimate the power of imagery. Take good quality photos of your rental unit after cleaning it up, in the state that it is being offered to a new tenant. Then upload the images on your online listings or share them with your agent or property manager so that they can engage potential tenants with the pleasing aesthetics of your rental flat or home. Consider hiring a professional photographer if you want the best results.
Your rental marketing strategy should also be comprehensive in terms of details about the property itself. State the number of bedrooms, use positive adjectives like spacious, sunny, cosy, quiet, conveniently located, and mention all the recent upgrades or renovations that have been done to keep the property spick and span for the new renters. The lack of comprehensive and correct information is one of the biggest causes of rental vacancies.
Unrealistic Expectations
As a landlord, you might have a set standard on how the property is to be maintained and how the tenant should use the space during their lease tenure. However, tenants are temporary owners and cannot be expected to fulfil and meet all the upkeep requirements like a long-term owner. Tenants also want to be able to make the space their own, just as if they were living in their own property.
Thus, having too many or unrealistic expectations from your tenants with regards to property management or home décor will generally turn them away. Give your tenants the freedom to live in the unit as per their lifestyle dictates, and you might just be able to create a lasting landlord-tenant relationship.
Disrespectful Property Managers
Choose your property manager with care if you are not meeting the tenants yourself face-to-face because you’ve chosen the property manager to represent you during the process of signing a rental agreement. A discourteous, rude, unfriendly, rigid, or disrespectful property manager will turn away the best of tenants.
Property managers need to be open, friendly, firm, yet respectful of your potential tenants, and hiring the right representative is essential to ending the rental vacancy. If you’re wondering about how to end the rental vacancy, find someone that your tenants can interact with on a regular basis without feeling belittled about being a renter in your unit.
A lack of communication between the property manager and tenants could also be one of the reasons why your rental property is still vacant, and this is why you need to not only offer several modes of communication to the renter, but also to keep those channels open for suggestions, queries, concerns, and emergencies.
Rigid Screening Process
There are several essential questions that you need to ask a renter before you sign the agreement, and getting unsatisfactory answers might leave you confused. In a country like Pakistan, where it is hard to track down the criminal history or the credit report of a potential tenant, you might be a bit rigid when it comes to the tenant screening process.
However, while the above is acceptable, what is totally out of bounds is asking personal questions based on your prejudice with regards to religion, lifestyle, and food choices, and then cross-questioning your potential tenants as if they’ve committed a felony. Not every tenant will have the same beliefs as you, and a good landlord needs to understand that and be accepting of this fact.
Be a bit more open-minded when you interview your tenants or ask your property manager to do it for you so that your tenants have the freedom to be themselves and can build the foundation for strong and honest communication throughout the rental agreement.
Poor Upkeep
One of the major reasons why your rental property is still vacant might be the condition that it is in. If you’ve put property maintenance on a back burner and forgotten all about it, you’ll be seeing a lot more vacancies than tenants over time. The state and upkeep of your rental unit is a significant factor in reducing rental vacancies, particularly if the current tenants are not maintaining it to the standards that you’ve set for your unit.
In terms of rental property maintenance, the noise level of the apartment complex, and the cleanliness of the property have the biggest impact when a potential tenant visits the unit. This is why you should avoid investing in a rental flat on the first floor of a building located on the main road since the constant flow of traffic will always be a bother for tenants. Additionally, get your property cleaned before a viewing, even if you currently have tenants living in it. Your aim is to find the next new tenant, and that’s only possible if they get to see your property in all its glory.
Undesirable Features
No matter how eager you are to find a new tenant, you might not be able to find one if your property has one of the following undesirable features that are often a major cause of rental vacancies:
- Too Many Stairs—Most tenants, especially elderly tenants and those with small kids, will avoid renting a flat on a higher floor if there is no elevator in the building since that means climbing up a higher number of stairs. Having an elevator that is often out of order or closed due to a power outage or load shedding will also impact your rental unit negatively.
- Small Rooms—Rental properties with spacious rooms are generally taken off the market quickly since tenants find it easier to move into them and accommodate their belongings in the available space without worrying about the dimensions of the rooms. However, rental units with cramped interiors often require a second thought, especially if the tenant has big bulky furniture to fit into a small space.
- Not Enough Bathrooms—Families with kids will definitely see one bathroom being shared among five individuals as not being enough to accommodate their needs. Alternatively, couples with kids might want an ensuite in the master bedroom, which your property does not offer. Tenants might also have a preference for a traditional WC or a commode, which might dictate their home renting decision.
- Location—Isolated localities, noisy complexes, dirty side streets, lack of public transportation, and rowdy neighbours, are just some of the many features associated with the location of your rental property that might affect its vacancy.
- Lack of Appliances—If your rental property offers nothing but bare walls and countertops, you’ll lose the tenant’s interest immediately. This is because most tenants do not purchase their own appliances and electronics, since moving them from one property to another is always a hassle. They live a minimalist lifestyle and rely on being provided with the essential appliances in the next rental unit to avoid making costly purchases.
- Lack of Updates—A rental property that has recently been renovated will automatically garner more attention from potential tenants as this means fewer maintenance woes to worry about down the road. In contrast, if you haven’t opted for a property renovation in a long time, now might be a good time to consider it, as it might help you end your rental vacancy.
- Poor Curb Appeal—This applies to rental houses rather than flats, but encompasses something that all landlords need to be careful about—the aesthetics of the rental unit. From the cracking interior paint job to the overgrown front garden, the broken roof tiles, and the damaged foundations, everything demands your attention in order to present the perfect picture to potential tenants. Give your tenants a home that you would like to live in yourself, and you will not be waiting for the right tenant for long.
- ‘No Pets’ Policy—While some residential complexes have a ‘no pets’ policy for all the residents, landlords often impose this policy on their own, too. If you’ve found a good tenant who owns a pet, don’t let them decline the offer simply because they refuse to live in your unit without their furry friend. Discuss pet care and property care concerns with regards to keeping a pet in your rental property and accommodate your tenants and their feline or canine companions accordingly.
We’ve given you a detailed analysis of the reasons why your rental property is still vacant. Evaluate each reason with respect to your rental unit and determine whether any of the causes of rental vacancies apply in your specific case. Eradicate the causes, and you’ll be able to rent out your property successfully.
Stay tuned to Zameen Blog for more posts on rental tips and tricks. Email us your queries at blog@zameen.com, and we’ll reply to you shortly.
