Document the Why Behind the Goodbye

Why did the last tenant leave? Most landlords could not say, because nobody asked, and the answer would have cost nothing more than one honest conversation at the outgoing inspection.

The outgoing inspection is already a meeting both sides have to attend. The landlord or agent walks the unit with the tenant, compares it to the ingoing report, notes any damage beyond fair wear and tear, and works out what comes off the deposit. It takes very little extra to ask why they are going and to write the answer down. Maybe the rent increase pushed them out. Maybe the geyser failed twice in one winter and took a week to fix each time, or the security gate never closed properly, or a neighbour played music until midnight.

One answer on its own is just one person's story. After a few tenants, though, the notes start to agree with each other, and a pattern is much harder to argue with. If several households in a row mention the same broken gate, that gate is costing the landlord a vacant month every time someone moves out, which is a far bigger number than the repair ever was.