Attracting tenants for your rental property

All landlords dream of getting tenants upon building their rental property. Much as most of them do not know how to, there are a number of ways one can get tenants on their property.
Hassan Musoke, a real estate agent at Sozzo Property Consultants, explains the determinants of getting that probable tenant on your rental property. This will help the landlord weigh if they get to actually offer what is ideal in the real estate market.

Have sizeable rooms
Musoke says many people build nice but tiny rooms and these end up unoccupied. Tenants always look out for big rooms where they can have guaranteed comfort.
“In most cases, the room size determines whether the house will be occupied or not. The places with small rooms are around universities. These are ideal for students at minimal prices,” he explains.

He further says houses with small rooms tend to attract less attention because not many people look out for them.
“Most Ugandans have grown into the habit of owning a lot of property and having big families so these small rooms have lost demand making their price ranges low and yet for the few single people just starting out with life, the would be occupants cannot afford high priced small rooms.”

Tenants pay their bills
Many landlords will be heard complaining of the water and electricity misuse leading to spending a lot on paying bills.
“Most tenants look out for houses that have both water and electricity meters where they have to pay for themselves and not collecting money from all of them to give to the landlord to pay the utility bills. This makes the tenant feel uncheated,” Musoke says.

Renovate your property
Ronald Kisembo, an engineer, says when tenants leave the property, it is better the landlord renovates the house in time because the probable tenant can always come by.
“Most landlords want to do what we call milking a cow without feeding it. They get money from their properties but never mind about renovating it, which makes it look unattractive to probable tenants,” he explains adding that renovating is one way of luring tenants to occupy the property any time it is available.

Advertise
Mukunda says although many landlords want to lock out brokerage fees from their budgets, it cannot be avoided as it is these that bring the probable tenants to take them around the available houses in the area.
“You cannot build a property and also move around looking for tenants, there has to be someone responsible for bringing probable tenants to inspect your property and to ensure that it is occupied in time,” he explains. He adds that locking out these from the landlord’s budget is sabotage to their property because in most cases, they cannot publicise the property themselves.

Location
You will realise that most houses close to town that are usually up for rent move quite first despite their quality than those far away from town. This is because towns are business centres.
“These houses, being strategically located, make it easy for people to access their workplaces puts them on high demand that no matter what, anyone would be willing to occupy them,”Mukunda says.
He adds that, “Places far away from public transport access tend to have few occupants because not many are willing to risk not being able to easily commute using public transport.”

The landlord presence
Stay away if you can
Whereas most landlords choose to stay close to their rental properties, most tenants feel uneasy having to stay with the landlord.
Papius Mukunda, a broker at Marie Brokers in Nansana, advises that landlords stay away from the rental property to make tenants free to occupy them.
“Whenever we get a client looking for a house, their first concern is ‘I want a house where the landlord does not stay nearby’. I believe it is about their privacy and I respect it but you find that in most cases landlords plan poorly and stay on their rental property which eventually makes tenants shun them,” he explains.

Ensure quality of your property

Ronald Kisembo, an engineer, says an unfinished and a poorly maintained house has less demand compared to an already finished house, in good shape and with an attractive look. “This is so because a house in poor quality no matter its size means less was spent on it and the only people who can afford it are those that do not earn much to afford one of good quality,” he notes.
He adds that having an exquisite interior in one’s property is an added advantage.

“The interior is vital for one’s comfort in the house. Some houses do not have ceilings and bring in a lot of heat when it is shining. The interior has to live up to the occupant’s expectations for easy occupancy.”

Other factors
Zziwa Muhammad, a property dealer, says things such as rent prices, neighborhood, and the number and kind of people in the area also help in having a property occupied.

“All the above can best be summarised in rent prices, neighborhood. If the landlord has his or her property priced well and in a good neighbourhood, it is a must it will be occupied,” he says.

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