Landlord - Tenant Communications

I have found over the years that perhaps one of the most challenging conversations that can come up between a landlord and tenant is the awkward “I’m selling” conversation.

Of course, this essentially means for most tenants that they must at least prepare for the very real chance that they may have to move into a new apartment which can be very stressful and potentially very costly.

This conversation can be even tougher if you’ve intentionally kept rents below market because you have a great relationship with your tenant and want them to stay. Knowing that they’ll have to find a new place on the open market can be even more stressful for tenants, especially knowing that they may have to either A) increase their budget by 50% or more or B) they may not be able to increase their budget and therefore will have to move to a part of town that could make their commute or day-to-day much tougher.

Add in the fact that as a landlord/property owner, you very likely have had some kind of relationship with your tenants for some period of time (in some cases for YEARS) and it can make for a very challenging conversation.

This is where the wrong realtor for the job can blow up a transaction and the right realtor for the job can make your transaction as smooth as butter. So what can a realtor do wrong or right here?

First, let’s talk about what wrong can look like. You’re going to have annoyed tenants if: 

  • The realtor comes in too hot and aggressive

  • The realtor shows up at the property without any notice or communication with the tenants

  • The realtor doesn’t properly communicate WHAT the transaction will look like (i.e. how often showings will happen, who else will have to have access to their units, etc). 

By the way, these are all examples that have actually happened - I know because tenants have told me!

Now you might be asking, why do I care if my tenants are annoyed? I’m going to sell my property and never hear from them again in 90 days. Well - besides the fact that it’s just good practice to treat tenants well - you might NOT sell your property if you really piss off your tenants. They may refuse to provide access to their unit. Or they might say bad things about your property or your job maintaining the property during showings. Or they might not keep the place clean prior to showings. 

This is all a long-winded way of saying, if your tenants aren’t happy, they have a lot more control over your property than you may realize. And if you have little or no access to show your units, you limit buyer exposure, you limit the number of your offers, and ultimately you limit the quality of your offers both in terms of sales price and sales terms. 

So what about the flip side? What can a great realtor do? Well it’s subtle, but a great realtor can maintain a strong relationship with your existing tenants to sure the sales process goes smoothly. This often translates into: 

  • The ability to show units when you need to, so the right buyers can view your property.

  • Tenants tidying up some things around their unit to make the property show as nice as possible.

  • Tenants putting in a good word about you and how you maintain your property to prospective buyers (if they decide to stick around during showings)

Also, sometimes you may be selling and already have a poor relationship with your tenants. A great realtor who can communicate well can defuse those situations and take them from net negative to at least net neutral and in some cases net positive. These small wins add up and generally lead to better outcomes and less stress for you. 


So if you’re thinking of selling your property and you are nervous about where to begin the conversation, drop me a line and we can figure it out together!