If there’s one single rental market prediction for how to increase landlord profits in 2012, it would be an increasing demand of smoke-free rental housing.
Today, the demand for smoke-free rentals is increasing faster than the supply of rental housing with no-smoking policies in place. As a result, smoke-free housing advocates are offering incentives to landlords to convert rental properties to nonsmoking.
For instance, SmokeFreeHousingNY.org now offers landlords with non-smoking rentals free rental listings via the Rentlinx advertising network.
The cost savings can be significant, especially in light of the number of tenants searching for nonsmoking as their highest priority.
In a survey conducted by that agency, 97% of landlords who made the choice to go smoke-free are very happy with the decision. In addition to savings on advertising, these landlords report an immediate increase in occupancy, and improved tenant loyalty.
Surveys reveal that even many smokers choose to live in smoke-free households, particularly those who have children living with them.
Going smoke-free is a particularly valuable strategy for rental properties which lack other, more expensive amenities.
Other benefits for landlords with non-smoking rental properties include lower fire and liability risks, and possibly lower insurance premiums. Landlords who have gone smoke-free report lower maintenance and cleaning costs.
A non-smoking policy is relatively easy to institute, and websites like SmokeFreeHousingNY provide a free landlord kit which contains information, notices and sample lease provisions to incorporate into your leasing policies.
Courts and legislatures across the country have cleared the way for smoking bans in rental housing, establishing the precedent that restricting smoking is not discriminatory, nor is smoking a legal right.
If you currently allow smoking, it may not be possible to enforce a smoke-free policy against those individual tenants immediately. Instead, landlords should phase in the smoking ban over time, restricting smoking in all new leases. But there’s little doubt that moving towards smoke-free rentals will increase your property’s profitability.
This post is provided by Tenant Verification Service, Inc., helping landlords reduce the risks of renting with fraud prevention tools that include Tenant Screening, Tenant Background Checks, (U.S. and Canada), as well as Criminal Background Checks, and Eviction Reports (U.S. only).
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Disclaimer: The information provided in this post in not intended to be construed as legal advice, nor should it be considered a substitute for obtaining individual legal counsel or consulting your local, state, federal or provincial tenancy laws.
