The Tenant Experience and Why It Matters

Tenant experience is the most important phrase most landlords don’t use. However, it is a key part of a successful rental agreement that benefits both parties.

In April this year, the government is introducing new consumer standards for the housing sector. 

The new regulations mean that local authority and housing association landlords will be monitored to assess the level of service they provide tenants. 

It’s just one of the many new regulations that have been introduced in recent years to improve the tenant experience for more than 8 million UK households who rent their homes. 

This renewed focus on housing standards will help improve life for people across the UK.

To meet these standards, it’s critical that housing providers understand what the tenant experience is and how to deliver a good one. This article explains both.

What Is the Tenant Experience?

The tenant experience covers all aspects of residents living in a rented property and engaging with their landlord.

This includes:

• The quality of the accommodation they live in.

• How well the landlord communicates.

• How quickly and well repairs and maintenance issues are dealt with. 

• How well the landlord deals with resident complaints.

• How the landlord helps promote harmonious communities.

• How much of a say residents have in shaping their community.
  
  

The most important parts of a positive tenant experience are how maintenance issues, pest control, and general upkeep are dealt with, as these ensure adequate living conditions.

If there are unresolved issues with the property or a lack of communication between landlord and resident, the relationship will break down.

This could lead to tenants leaving or becoming dissatisfied.

The most common problems that cause this include:

❌ Lack of care for the property. 

❌ Under-reporting of problems.

❌ Poor communication. 

Why Is the Tenant Experience Important?

Tenant experience is a key part of a successful rental agreement that benefits both parties. 

As a landlord, you need to think of your residents as customers. You are providing a service to them, and they are paying you for it.

More importantly, the quality of someone’s home can affect the quality of their life. Living in poor-quality housing could potentially make them less likely healthy, happy, and safe. 

Property managers are responsible for providing people with properties that are fit, safe and healthy places to live.

Tenant experience challenges

Most landlords recognise the importance of providing a great tenant experience. 

However, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for social housing landlords to meet resident expectations.

There are several reasons for this:

💡Residents have higher expectations: People are more aware of their rights as tenants and rightly demand that landlords give them the quality of accommodation they deserve. 

💡More people are renting: UK property is becoming increasingly unaffordable and more people are renting than ever before. This means there is greater demand for rental housing. It also means more people care about the condition of rental properties.

💡Residents expect digital communications: Today most people use apps on their mobile phones to engage with services. They expect the same from their landlord. Unfortunately, many housing associations are stuck using outdated systems that are slow and difficult to engage with.

💡Pandemic backlog: Many housing providers have a backlog of resident repair requests due to the pandemic. This means many residents have unacceptable waiting times for repairs to be made to their homes.

💡Higher costs: Inflations means the cost of materials and labour have gone up. But at the same time, the amount of rent social housing providers can charge is capped by the 2023 Rent Standard. This has made budgeting for repairs and maintenance difficult. 

💡Housing providers are managing more homes: The challenging economy has led to mergers in the housing sector. While this offers economies of scale, it has also led to fewer people managing more homes. As a result, it is harder for them to provide a good service to residents. 

Why Should Landlords and Property Owners Care?

Providing a good tenant experience isn’t just good for tenants. It also benefits landlords. 

Here’s how:

Tenant retention: When a tenant leaves, you must find a new one. This leads to lots of administrative costs and oid periods. If you provide a good tenant experience, then your residents are likely to stay in one of your properties for longer. 

Good reputation: Providing a good tenant experience will help protect your reputation as a good housing provider. This will make you more attractive to future potential residents. 

Reduce costs: If you have a good relationship with your residents, they are more likely to look after their property as if it were their home and, therefore report problems to you. This prevents small problems from getting worse, making them more expensive to fix. 

Ways to Improve the Tenant Experience

If residents have a home that is well maintained and a landlord who communicates well, then they are likely to be happy.

In other words, providing a good tenant experience is about doing the basics well. You need to set up a system that:

✔️Allows residents to quickly and easily report problems to you.

✔️Ensures repair requests are carried out quickly and professionally.

✔️Gives tradespeople the information they need to carry out the repair.

✔️Enables tradespeople to access the property in a way that is convenient for them and your residents.

✔️Allows work to be signed off quickly and easily. 

✔️Keeps residents updated on the progress of their repair requests.

Why Tenant Experience Software Is the Solution

Earlier, we mentioned that people prefer using their mobile phones to engage with services - including their landlord. 

Millennials in particular are used to the convenience of digital solutions.

They appreciate the smoothness of booking an Uber ride or a Just Eat delivery and want the same when it comes to fixing issues.

Residents expect their landlords to provide services using the latest digital channels.

That’s why using a simple, straightforward digital platform to help you manage the tenant experience is the answer.

Here are a few more benefits of using tenant experience apps and digital solutions.

Digital solutions help to improve tenant engagement

Using technology gives tenants and landlords a platform to communicate effectively, with the following benefits. A tenant experience platform is:

✅ Easy to access.

✅ Useful for storing information centrally. 

✅ Eliminates unnecessary calls and emails.

✅ Centralises visitor management and service requests.

This can help tenants interact with landlords and file maintenance requests with ease, improving the overall process of property management.

Digital solutions make reporting issues simple 

When an issue arises, reporting needs to be quick, simple, and accurate. Normally it isn’t, as four parties are involved in sorting out an issue:

• Landlords.

• Tenants.

• Agents. 

• Contractors. 
  
  

If the reporting is complicated, then it is likely the resolution will be too.

Reporting and resolving the issue has to be easy. Digital, smart solutions can do this. Here’s how:

✅ The reporting is easy to do using a smartphone. 

✅ Details and pictures can be added.

✅ The issue can be identified. 

✅ The right tradesperson can be engaged and given the necessary information.

✅ Everyone can follow the progress. 

✅ No one is waiting on calls.

✅ The tenant experience (and landlord experience) is positive.

Know your properties

Digital solutions help landlords keep track of everything they’ve done to improve a property.

This is incredibly useful when it comes to spotting recurring or underlying issues. 

For example, if a property has had three requests to fix damp and mould in a year, then it’s clear that the source of the problem hasn’t been fixed. 

A digital platform allows housing officers to quickly and easily spot problems like this when they would normally go unnoticed. 

It also allows you to gain an overview of the state of your properties. Let’s say new legislation is brought in that requires all rental properties to have a certain upgrade. 

A digital platform lets you see how many properties need the upgrade and track progress as the work is carried out. 

How Can Landlords Put This into Action?

The key to successfully integrating digital is to use an app that provides a high-quality experience for all parties.

At EVO, the experience of the user is paramount. We have created a platform that is easy to use, allowing issues to be reported in less than 30 seconds.

How Does EVO Work?

EVO is a unique platform that helps improve tenant satisfaction and supports your property management process.

Property repairs and maintenance issues can easily be reported using photos on the EVO app. Issues are then matched with a suitable tradesperson for the job. 

Our technology enables tenants to manage their repair appointments with accredited tradespeople through their smartphones.

As landlords and property managers, you decide your level of involvement.

The EVO dashboard provides full visibility of your property’s service history and helps you ensure compliance checks are carried out on time and are fully recorded.

This means no panicked phone calls, no scrambling around for tradespeople, no missed checks, and no disgruntled residents.

Watch our explainer video here for more information.

Contact one of our friendly staff to help you get started today.