Make it a Great Move-In Day!
How would you feel if you opened your newly rented apartment door and saw a cat already occupying it? To be more specific: a cat, their food dish, a bed, and even a litter box!
A successful move-in day can set the tone for a positive landlord-tenant relationship, that can lead to tenant satisfaction, a longer tenancy, and fewer disputes. Conversely, a negative experience on move-in day can create mistrust, and lead to more tenant complaints, and eventual early turnovers.
Learn from my mistakes!
Before I talk about the necessary steps to creating a positive move-in day, let me tell you a little story about a move-in day gone wrong.
Early in my career, I worked at an apartment community where we had a lot of stray cats. Tenants generally liked seeing the cats around and I like to think of myself as a cat-lover so I always enjoyed walking the property and seeing cats running around.
Then one day the stray cats that I loved so much taught me a whole bunch of lessons that I have carried with me for more than 20 years.
I had a tenant come to the leasing office to move in, he arrived earlier than I anticipated and I was busy doing some other sort of work so I simply gave him the key and sent him on his way. He seemed happy to be moving in and had positive things to say about our leasing agent so without a second thought, I went back to my work.
A few minutes later he was back telling me he couldn’t get into the building. I had given him his apartment key but had forgotten to give him the keys to the building. Still, he seemed happy enough so I apologized, gave him the building key, and once again sent him on his way.
A few minutes went by and I looked up to see the same tenant again walking through the door, only this time the smile was gone.
Apparently, when he entered the apartment, a cat was sleeping peacefully on a towel in the living room, near her bowls of food and water. A couple of feet away was her litter box. Yes, my new tenant walked into his new apartment and found one of the stray cats from the apartment community had been set up with a nice home in his new apartment.
I never knew who put the cat in the apartment, but it was definitely one of the strays and my new tenant did not like cats and definitely did not think this was a cute way to start his time in the apartment.
Six weeks later this same tenant came back into my office even more annoyed than on move-in day to tell me the apartment was now infested with fleas and he was certain the fleas came from the stray cat that had been in the apartment on move in day.
Ten months after that the same tenant gave notice and moved to an apartment community just down the street.
Thankfully this all happened before the days of online reviews! But imagine, just for a minute, how different this tenant’s experience could have been if I had confirmed his move-in time, taken a few minutes to walk through the apartment before his arrival, and then taken another few minutes to walk to the apartment with him to do an initial walk-through.
What can you do to create a brag-worthy tenant experience on move-in day?
Move-in day is your chance to prove to your new tenant that they didn’t make a mistake in choosing your rental unit. Do it right and you gain a loyal tenant, do it wrong and you have a tenant who is unlikely to forgive even the smallest of issues.
Whether you own a large luxury home or a small no-frills apartment the rules for you as a landlord on move-in day are the same.
Provide the details: Well ahead of move in day, provide your tenant with a specific move in day plan. Your plan for them should include the following:
How and when to pick up keys. Be sure to provide building access codes.
Where and how the moving truck needs to park, where friends helping them move should park.
Building or community rules about move ins.
A list of utilities for which they are responsible. Do not assume your tenants read the carefully worded lease agreement you had them sign. If you require them to pay their own utilities, make that clear in a specific written document. Provide them with utility company contact information and have them provide you with account numbers before move in day. A move in day without electricity is a move in day gone wrong even if it is the tenant’s responsibility.
Miscellaneous instructions for that tricky to use thermostat, microwave, washing machine, etc
Put yourself in their shoes and be sure to provide the details for anything they may need to know in the first few days as your tenant.
Cleanliness: Do not cut corners when it comes to cleaning. Providing an immaculately cleaned rental unit is your chance to prove to the incoming tenants that you care about your rental unit and respect them as a tenant. This creates a loyal tenant. I hire professional cleaners and I tell them they need to plan to touch every single surface in the rental unit before they are finished. Aside from all of the obvious areas, this includes items such as the top of the refrigerator, the blades of a ceiling fan, bathroom fan, underneath the stove, the basement ceiling, the lint trap in the dryer, the closet shelf, the windows and window sills, etc…
Be sure to confirm that the cleaning you thought was done was done to your standards, walk the apartment before calling it clean!
Maintenance: Similar to cleaning, making sure all the maintenance issues are addressed before a new tenant moves in demonstrates to a new tenant that you care about your investment property and respect them as a tenant. In short, your job here is to make sure everything in the rental unit works as it should. You should be working from a “maintenance checklist” so you don’t forget anything. And as with the cleaning, don’t take for granted that it’s done because someone told you it’s done.
Walk the rental unit with your maintenance checklist in hand before calling it done.
**Be sure to confirm that all of the keys work!
Walk-through: After all the work is complete and the apartment is ready for move-in, take the time to walk through the apartment one last time before the tenant arrives. In order to make sure you look at all the details I suggest using a checklist to help you stay on track. (Grab a free copy of the checklist I use at the end of this blogpost)
Be present: Being present on move-in day is crucial, it sets a positive tone for your relationship with your tenant by allowing for immediate acknowledgment and correction of any concerns or questions that arise. If you can’t physically be there, consider scheduling a virtual walk-through.
Prioritizing a positive move-in experience requires work, but the recipe is straightforward, and if followed, you, as a landlord can create a strong foundation for a successful tenancy.