Social housing providers are realising the importance and benefits of more positive landlord-tenant relationships. From helping to build more sustainable tenancies to supporting rent collection and arrears management, the increased emphasis on tenant support and welfare could have lasting effects beyond the Cost-of-Living crisis.
We’ve seen a change in the housing sector and the relationship between landlords and tenants. And, from this, we’ve discovered that being a good social landlord, as well as keeping good landlord-tenant relations, is dependent on a few crucial behavioural factors, such as: listening to tenants’ circumstances, being proactive to help engage positively with residents and setting out a long-term housing communication strategy. But what steps can you take to put your intentions into practice? If you want to learn how to best engage with tenants and foster better, more positive relationships, keep reading to learn the best ways to improve relationships for your social housing services.
Impact of the Cost-of-Living Crisis
Tenant engagement and support are already key pillars in most housing associations. However, in recent months, there has been a greater emphasis on the landlord-tenant relationship, specifically around how to communicate ethically with tenants during the Cost-of-Living Crisis.
Emergency legislation during and after the pandemic has forced a number of landlords to adapt their services, both in an attempt to protect their tenants and themselves. Specifically in rent collection strategies, approaches are moving away from debt recovery and towards support provision.
3 ways you can improve tenant communications
1. Listen to your tenants – Tenants value landlords who take their opinions on board (and take their complaints seriously), so you must always pay close attention to their expectations and needs. The more you listen and respond to them, the more you can create additional value across areas, including feedback, repairs and rent payments.
2. Tackle problems efficiently – As a social landlord, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your tenants are satisfied with the repair and maintenance services that are being provided. If a repair wasn’t carried out to the appropriate standard and a customer is dissatisfied, you need to quickly identify the problem and take immediate action. This is especially important considering the new UK legislation surrounding Awaab’s Law and meeting compliance standards.
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Voicescape Feedback helps you gather feedback quickly and efficiently by automating surveys over the phone as soon as a transaction or process is complete. Our platform will then provide you with a real-time action list to follow up with any dissatisfied customers to address the problem swiftly. |
3. Keep open lines of communication – By keeping an open line of communication, your customers will know that they’re valued and that you’re an active presence, dedicated to ensuring your service stays relevant to tenants. Something as simple as letting them know when you’re available or unavailable can go a long way to cementing this belief.
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Voicescape Feedback can be used to survey tenants on your complaints procedure, closing the feedback loop. By automating the process, you’ll be able to solicit more feedback, more often, without the additional manpower. |
Why should social landlords invest in tenant relationships?
Regular support-based engagement not only has a beneficial impact on tenants but can positively modify and maintain the relationship between landlords and tenants. For example, at a time when many tenants may be struggling, the increased emphasis on togetherness and support could have lasting effects beyond the current situation.
The importance of positive tenant relationships
Our research has suggested that when there is a positive relationship between landlords and tenants, tenants are more likely to feel they have been treated fairly. This perception of fairness has an important impact on income collection. For starters, tenants are more likely to accept decisions made by organisations, show greater compliance and behave more cooperatively.
“The better your support, the better your collection rates. It is in everybody’s benefit to support our customers.”
Karl Maple, Network Homes
In contrast, negative relationships can cause tenants to feel like they have been treated unfairly, feel excluded and exploited. This could even lead to tenant and landlord disputes. Or this can manifest in ‘vendetta’ behaviours against the organisations which they believe have treated them in this way. Furthermore, actively encouraging positive landlord-tenant relationships can help landlords understand tenants’ preferences and support the prevention and management of rent arrears.
How Voicescape Feedback can help
All too frequently, a lack of insight comes between landlords and their customers. That’s why we created Voicescape Feedback. Our intelligent solution allows you to gather crucial data through tenant satisfaction surveys and use this to make data-driven service improvements so that you can better meet customer expectations.
Voicescape’s mission is to help social housing landlords like you build and maintain a strong tenant-landlord relationship. Our Feedback solution allows you to gain a clear picture of how customers feel about the services that they’re receiving. This creates a more responsive approach to managing dissatisfaction, which is crucial to nurturing a good relationship with your tenants.
At Voicescape, we’ve been combining behavioural insights, data science and technology for years to deliver evidence-based solutions that enable social landlords to build sustainable tenancies. Want to find out more about our approach to improving the relationship between tenant and landlord? Get in touch today.