Loyalty Is Earned Downward First

Tenants stay where they have been treated well, and the treatment that counts most happens in the first few months of a lease. A tenant who renews without being chased and pays on the same day every month is usually answering something the landlord did long before renewal came up.

Most of it is ordinary. The deposit goes into an interest bearing account, as the law expects, and the tenant is told where it sits. The landlord turns up for the inspection at the start of the lease and agrees the list of existing defects together with the tenant. A burst geyser or a broken lock gets a reply the same day, even when the repair takes longer. Notice is given before anyone comes to look at the unit. None of this is generosity. It is the minimum, done promptly and without an argument, and tenants notice how rare that is.

Landlords who complain that tenants have no loyalty have often asked for it in the wrong order. They wanted the long lease and the careful tenant first, and planned to show some goodwill later, once it had been earned. Tenants are keeping the same score from the other side, and they started counting at the first inspection.