Small things like an informative welcome letter and a welcome package at the start of a tenancy will yield fantastic returns on investment.
A tenant welcome letter is an easy and effective way to start your relationship off on the right foot. This letter is a simple tool that you can send out to your new tenants before the move in with all the essential information they need to make their move-in a stressful and streamlined process.
Writing the perfect welcome letter though can be hard. In this article, we take a look at the key components of a great welcome letter, including what goes into it and when to send it. We also include a free welcome letter template and detail how you can make the process of finding and keeping new tenants as easy as possible with software like Landlord Studio.
Sending a welcome letter to your tenants is an opportunity to get the relationship started on the right foot. You can make your new tenants feel at home and comfortable. It is also a great opportunity to outline any important information and details about the tenancy such as the next steps for their move in and how to report maintenance issues. Moving forward it’s important that you know your tenants have this information so that important factors such as handling rent payments and maintenance requests, are established and clear to both parties.
Even better, if you use an app like Landlord Studio, you can easily manage these communications and send automated rent reminders. It’s also a good time to suggest your tenants set up automatic online rent payments.
The welcome letter also allows you to outline the rules around the tenancy one last time. For example, you can let tenants know which day the trash is collected which will help avoid overflowing bins and potentially HOA or city fines.
Finally, the tenant welcome letter will answer all your tenants’ frequently asked questions upfront and eliminate the need for your tenants to contact you when issues arise. For example, your tenant might ask about setting up internet and whether there is fibre optic in the unit. When creating your welcome letter try and think about the questions tenants might ask or have asked n the past and answer them before the new tenant asks.
The best time to send the welcome letter is after the lease has been signed by both parties but before the key handover and move-in days.
The reason for this is because one part of this welcome letter is to inform your new tenant of move-in details, when and how to collect the keys, and so on. 1 to 2 weeks before the move-in date is normally a good time to send the letter.
Some tenants are more proactive than others and may get contact to ask specific questions, like how do they set up utilities way ahead of time. If you get a tenant like this, feel free to send the whole welcome letter.
One thing to note is if they haven’t yet signed the lease make sure to delete any sections that are sensitive. For example, if you have a lockbox with a code they need to pick the keys up from don’t share the code with them yet. Instead, replace it with a note that details for key collection will be given closer to the move-in date.
Your welcome letter should provide the following information:
Read: What every landlord needs to know about renters insurance.
The easiest and most practical way to send your welcome letter is by email. It means they can’t lose it, and they can quickly reply if needed with any follow-up questions. Plus, you can include relevant links to things like the local council website with information on trash collection, or with public transport timetables.
We also suggest leaving a printed copy with your welcome package on the kitchen table.
To make it even easier to send your welcome letter/ email, you can create a free Landlord Studio account. With Landlord Studio not only can you can create a unique rental listing, collect tenant applications and even run a comprehensive tenant screening report, once you've found a great tenant, you can then send any of our existing email templates or create new reactive email templates. This means you can upload your welcome letter template into the system and then send it to new tenants with a single click!
Create your free Landlord Studio account today and streamline your tenant management and rental accounting.
Getting your relationship with your tenants off to the best possible start is good practice. Small things like an informative welcome letter and a welcome package will yield fantastic returns on investment. Your tenants will be more respectful of your property and be easier to manage. As the saying goes, ‘a little goes a long way,’ and that is especially true in this scenario.