Head Of In-Lease Experience

Marketing Manager

Journalist

Belong Co-Founders

GM of San Diego

Millennial renters have peaked. As Gen Z floods the rental market, it’s time to look at their wants and needs to future-proof demand for your rental home.

What Gen Z Wants: A Homeowner’s Guide to the New Wave of Renters

Millennial renters have peaked. As this generation hits their 30s and 40s, Gen Z is now the only generation adding renter households to the market.

Learning what drives young adults is a smart play for rental homeowners of any age. As Generation Z (or Zoomers) enter the rental market, it’s time to look at this cohort’s wants and needs to determine what your home and marketing efforts need to keep demand high. 


Born between 1997 - 2012 (aged 12 - 27), the over 18’s of Gen Z are already renting and offer a glimpse at the future. According to Statistica, Zoomers accounted for ~22% of rental applicants in the US in 2020. By 2030, Gen Z will dominate the rental market as they make up all adults under 35.

They are the most tech savvy of any generation – even the oldest Gen Z’s were only 10 when the first iPhone launched.



Gen Z adults don’t pick up the phone. Most have never written a check. The option to manage a rental home and accept payments online is becoming essential. 



Gen Z are often attracted to suburban living over big-city life, with many dreaming of a single-family rental home. A NAAHQ survey found that 43% of adults aged 18-23 were seeking to swap an apartment for a SFH after graduation.



About two-thirds of adults under 35 live in rental homes. By 2030, Gen Z will be 18-35 and the majority of renters. 



1 in 3 Gen Z adults think homeownership at any point feels out of reach financially and 72% appreciate the flexibility of renting (Freddie Mac, 2022).

Understanding what this generation wants from a rental home is a great way to stay ahead of the pack during the ebbs and flows of the market as time goes on. Here are 5 things Gen Z renters want in a home so you can focus on what will drive demand today and in the future.


According to the Freddie Mac survey, 78% of Gen Z adults want air conditioning in a rental home – topping their list of priorities. This should come as no surprise with temperatures rising across the globe. 

Cooling is also on the agenda for tenant rights. At the moment, homeowners have to provide heating for a comfortable living environment. A number of campaigns across the country including New York, Arizona and Florida are looking to have cooling included in this to tackle heat stress in rental homes. 

2. High-speed internet and WFH flexibility

Gen Z are starting their careers at a time when a hybrid model of working from both home and the office has cemented itself in modern workplaces. 

This (and their insatiable appetite for online video content) makes fast internet and flexible spaces a must. 75% of Gen Z adults say a rental being ‘wired for high-speed internet’ is a top priority. 

It could be as simple as ensuring there are enough outlets for laptops and chargers or installing a wifi extender such as Amazon’s eero or Google’s Mesh wifi. 

Other ideas include adding a floating desk that folds out in a common area or highlighting home office features in your home listing. 

Related: How Remote Work Trends Are Impacting Rental Demand

If you want to keep Gen Z residents, don’t make them pick up the phone to report maintenance issues. Let them pay rent online. Respond fast. This is a true digital native generation and they’re looking to innovative proptech solutions to make their rental experience better than past generations. 

As a company on a mission to upend the outdated property management industry, Belong focuses on innovation and human-led services that support everyone. 

Here are five ways we’re making renting lovable for Gen Z (and everyone else!)

Our residents can choose their rent payment schedule, paying via the app on a cycle that suits their income. We guarantee rent to all homeowners monthly or yearly, so you get paid the same no matter what your residents choose. 



Our customer support teams are available to residents 24/7 via the app so they never have to make awkward phone calls or wait until business hours to discuss their needs. 



Belong residents are rewarded for every on-time rental payment by building up credit towards priority access to future rentals or even buying an eligible home on the Belong network in future.  



We include video in our rental listings (no hidden fees), to appeal to the video-loving Gen Z market. 



We don’t call renters ‘tenants’ or treat them like second-class citizens. We prefer residents and respect that they want a place to belong. 

Related: 9 Ways Belong Flipped Property Management on its Head

Gen Z has grown up with Siri, Alexa and Google at their fingertips. They want to use their phone to control their world and appreciate smart appliances for their easy of use and cost-saving potential. 

A 2022 survey from Rent.com found that 82% of renters already want at least one smart device or system in their home. Expectations aren't wild either — 41% say 1-2 devices would be their preference.

Cost-effective picks that can benefit both homeowners and their residents include:

Smart smoke and carbon monoxide detectors

Related: What Smart Home Tech Do Renters Want Most?

Growing up with climate change hitting crisis point, Zoomers are more likely to be environmentally conscious than other demographic segments. Research suggests that 61% of renters would pay more each month in rent for an eco-friendly apartment, which likely applies to single-family homes which cost more to run. 

You don’t need to be an eco-warrior to know that running an energy efficient home makes sense. The energy use in our home has a big impact on our utility bills, but it’s also the top contributor for our individual carbon footprint. Home energy accounts for almost a third (32%) of the average American’s carbon footprint. 

For years, sustainability measures have targeted homeowners, leaving renters to put up with emission-heavy homes. It’s unlikely that Gen Z will let this continue. Imagine you’re a Gen Z renter choosing between two similar houses. One has energy efficient upgrades, the other untouched — which would you choose? 

Related: 7 Cost-Effective Ways To Make Your Rental Home Sustainable

Another finding from the Freddie Mac survey was that 69% of Gen Z adults prioritized wanting to rent in a “low-crime neighborhood”. Now, you can’t help what happens around your rental home – but there are ways you can make residents feel safer, including:

Installing deadbolts and security gates to reduce the risk of break-ins

Respond quickly to repairs and damage to the home to reduce unauthorized access

Provide a lockable mailbox to protect against mail fraud and identity theft

Provide good lighting in and around the property, especially in common areas such as hallways, staircases, and parking lots

Change the locks after evicting a nuisance or violent tenant

Develop a security plan to respond to threats and install security measures as needed

Related: Criminal Activities in Rentals: Can Landlords Be Held Responsible?

What are the pros and cons of using AI in property management? Discover where AI can streamline tasks for your rental home & where human touch is irreplaceable.

Could AI Make You a Better Rental Homeowner?

Love it or loathe it, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) is starting to infiltrate every industry. Property management is no exception. Owning and managing a rental home can be a big job, so naturally many rental homeowners want to know if AI would be a help or hindrance. 

The answer is that it can be both. There are pros and cons to using any kind of AI in managing a rental home. If technology can make your work more efficient, that’s great! But it shouldn’t come at the cost of good support for your residents. 

Here are some examples of 6 pros and cons of AI at work in the rental management industry. 

One of the major benefits of AI is the ability to process huge quantities of data. This can provide great insights when marketing or managing a rental home. Here are three useful benefits of using AI to process and use data for a rental home. 

1. Machine learning and pricing algorithms

Pricing in the real estate industry fluctuates with supply and demand. Data scores from bedrooms and square footage to local amenities, school districts, and seasonal demand – all influence pricing on a monthly basis.  

Machine learning can be a huge benefit in harnessing this data. AI allows property technology (PropTech) companies to create pricing algorithms that increase rental income without turning potential residents away. 

As a tech-forward alternative to property management, Belong uses expert pricing algorithms to create rent estimates for our homes. We look at thousands of neighborhood data points along with amenities that make your home unique. We also track real-time demand to get the best possible price for your rental home and use human smarts and local-market knowledge to make sure it’s spot on for the current conditions. 


Try it out: Get your own free rent estimate to see what you could be earning with Belong. 

2. Predicting what your rental home needs

Your rental home creates its own data that can tell a story. Things like how old the home is, when appliances were last replaced, how often the lawn needs mowing. AI can process these data points quickly to make predictions on upcoming maintenance needs for your rental home. Smart appliances can also alert homeowners to maintenance issues such as detecting leaks or carbon monoxide in the home. The future of AI could be incredibly useful in a smooth-running rental that predicts necessary maintenance and appliance replacements before it turns into a costly repair.

Related: The Future of Property Management: 5 PropTech Innovations Changing The Game

Technology helped us move from shoeboxes full of receipts to organized spreadsheets and automated number crunching. AI has the potential to streamline this even further. AI powered automation programs can predict when you need to enter information and can help you track things faster. For example, if you manage your own rental home, an automated tracker in your car can record mileage every time you visit the property. If this is sent to your accounting software, it will make tax time a breeze.

Related: How to Manage Accounting as a First-Time Landlord: 5 Best Ways

Not every use for AI will be helpful. It’s important to remember that most of what is called AI is a human-language model. This means it mimics human language to give you the answer it thinks you want to hear. Even if that means making it up. It’s far from foolproof and could steer you or your residents in the wrong direction. 

Your residents are human and your rental is their home. This is no ordinary business transaction and replacing communication with robotic responses isn’t likely to do anything to improve the tenant-landlord relationship. 

Here are three instances where AI could be less than helpful for your rental home. 

Communicating with your residents is basic customer service. While chatbots are sounding less robotic thanks to AI, at the end of the day, they are still robots. 

Outsourcing your tenant communications to a chatbot is risky. It will give the answer it thinks they need with no care for your home or residents. Some property management companies may promote this as “instant communication”, but if anything it is delaying real support. Looking after your residents is a service that should be included in the management fees paid. 

At Belong we take pride in being the perfect blend of technology and people-power. This includes access to human customer support, 24/7. Our easy-to-use but advanced app is not a robot spitting out generic answers, connecting you to teams of real people dedicated to caring for your home.

When listing your home, you could use an AI language model like ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini to write the listing for you in minutes. That’s fast, but you should also proceed with caution. Don’t take AI at its word. AI text can be unnecessarily wordy and may include generic things that aren’t relevant to your local area or home. You will also need to check for potentially discriminatory language that could land you in hot water under the Fair Housing Act. It might be a good starting point, but be sure to proofread and edit carefully before uploading to listing sites. 

As a homeowner there’s a lot of legislation to navigate – and landlord-tenant laws change often. A google search will produce thousands of results, so it could be tempting to ask your questions to an AI chatbot. This is not a good idea. The last update for ChatGPT was in January 2022, and many new rules have been introduced since then like caps on security deposits in California or the eviction process in Seattle. Bing search has been found to make up answers and scrape responses from top-ranking websites, without accounting for the date they were published or whether the author has verified any of this information. 

Even when accurate, AI gives generalized advice and may not be aware of local ordinances in place for your local county. Better leave this one to the experts and consult an attorney, property lawyer or real estate professional. 

Related: 11 Legal Mistakes To Avoid As a Rental Homeowner

If you’re looking for the tech-forward alternative to old-school property management, you’ve found it. Belong is a proptech company on a mission to fix long-term renting by focusing on modern innovation and services that support everyone. 

We’ll partner with you to get your home the best price, guarantee your rent, and care for it the way you would. Never worry about bad residents, late rent, cost blowouts, or 2am phone calls ever again. 

See why thousands of US homeowners are ditching outdated Property Management in San Francisco, Austin, San Diego, Los Angeles, Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando and more.



Disclaimer: We don’t enjoy using the word ‘landlord’. We prefer to refer to members in our network as homeowners and residents, not landlords and tenants, since we’re on a mission to upend and redefine the traditional landlord-tenant relationship. That said, sometimes the words tenant and landlord need to be used to provide clarity on legislation — so in this article we use both. This article provides a guide for homeowners of residential property for rent in the US, but should not replace financial or legal advice. Please consider your own personal circumstances and consult a legal or real estate professional before making any decisions on your rental home.

Creating a lease or rental agreement isn't as simple as downloading a form. Before you start, here's 7 important clauses and disclosures you'll want to include.

7 Important Clauses to Include in Your Lease or Rental Agreement

There’s no shortage of free online templates to create a simple lease agreement. And we get the temptation this gives to homeowners managing their own rental. Few people love reading lengthy contracts let alone creating them. If they’re all pretty standard, why not? 

But before you go down that road, remember this: a lease is a binding legal document designed to protect you and your rental home. Will a boilerplate take enough into account? Overlooking vital details could come back to bite you down the road. It’s always recommended that you speak to a local attorney before signing on any dotted lines. 

Whether you’re planning to outsource the 'legalese' or hit download on a template, here's 7 important clauses and disclosures that should be in your lease or rental agreement.

Only the people named on your lease agreement are legally responsible for paying the rent and following the terms. This is why all adult members of the household need to be listed. Partners, roommates — get it in writing. Include an occupancy clause that states that only the named tenants and their children can occupy the home. A clause should also prohibit subletting and unapproved occupants to further protect your home from unauthorized use, particularly on short-term rental platforms that may violate the terms of your landlord's insurance policy. 

2. Payment terms for rent and security deposit

Your lease should obviously list the agreed rental price and security deposit amount. But you can avoid messy disputes by detailing the specific payment terms. Your lease agreement should include details such as:

When rent is due and the frequency of payments

What will happen if the rent is late (including details of fees if they apply in your state)

What will happen if a check bounces or payment declines

The amount of security deposit due and where it will be held

Whether interest will apply on the security deposit, based on local laws

The terms in which the security deposit will be returned 

Every state and jurisdiction is different, which is why it’s important to seek professional help for legislation around rent and security deposits. For example, in California a security deposit can’t exceed two months rent, but it’s limited to one month if the tenant is an active service member. In Texas, there is no limit applied. In Washington state, you must allow tenants to pay the deposit in installments if the amount is more than 25% of the monthly rent. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to drafting a lease for renting in the US. 

3. Policies around proper use of the home

How you want the rental home and surrounds used should be clear to tenants before they move in, avoiding headaches down the road.  

For example, if you have parking for one car, spell that out. Don’t assume that your residents won’t use the lawn to park their partner’s car or store an RV if you haven’t told them they can’t. A boilerplate won’t have any specifics relating to your home, so these details will need to be considered carefully.

When Belong drafts a lease agreement, we make sure to include specific policies and permissions including:

The responsibilities of the resident for maintenance and reporting faults, including what they need to replace themselves, such as light bulbs

Authorized and/or prohibited parking on the property

Storage notice for personal use only, not storage for other people or hazardous materials 

An outline of who is responsible for paying for utilities and services to the home

Legal use of smoke detectors and carbon monoxide, plus reporting and maintenance requirements

Garden maintenance and watering requirements as applicable to the home

A no smoking policy, prohibiting smoking and vaping in the home and common areas

A drug policy, prohibiting the use, growing and distribution of drugs, marijuana or related products on, in or about the home

A policy for requesting any alterations around the home, including painting

Local conditions in the neighborhood, such as city noise restrictions

Early termination penalties if the resident wants to move out before the end of the lease

A pest control policy including the residents' responsibility to keep the home in a clean and sanitary condition (with pest control costs applicable for failing to do so)

Resident obligations upon moving out including key return, removal of personal items, cleaning and providing a forwarding address

Learn More: Discover Belong, the best alternative to Property Management in Seattle, Redmond, Oakland, and many more cities across California, Florida, Texas, Utah, North Carolina and Washington State.

4. Statutory disclosures for your local area

Depending on where your home is located, there could be a number of legal disclosures you are required to include in a lease agreement. For example, if your home is in the state of California, you are legally required to include:

A ‘Megan’s Law’ database disclosure statement

Disclosure of any known mold or ventilation issues in the home and agreement to keep the home free of mold and mildew

A lead paint warning statement and disclosure of any known lead-based paint or hazards in the house (for homes built prior to 1978)

Any known contamination from methamphetamine of fentanyl 

Information about bed bugs and reporting requirements

Information about flood hazards if applicable to the home

How to comply with smoke and carbon monoxide detector requirements

Any rent caps or rent control regulations applicable to the local city

Research your local municipality and state landlord-tenant laws if you decide to manage a lease on your own. 

Discover Belong: Skip the research and let Belong take care of everything. See why thousands of US homeowners are ditching outdated Property Management in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Tampa, Jacksonville, Concord, Berkeley, Orlando and more.

Even if you have insurance for your rental home, it won’t cover the residents or their personal belongings while they rent. Your lease agreement should make it clear that residents are responsible for their own insurance to protect against loss in and around the home. 

If your home is loved by Belong, we require all residents to carry their own renter’s insurance with liability coverage to protect them and our homeowners. Our lease agreements stipulate proof of this policy before commencement of the agreement and prior to any renewals. 

If you decide to make your rental home pet-friendly, you’ll need a pet policy or addendum in your lease agreement. Like the residents themselves, this policy should specify the approved pet only. If other unauthorized animals are kept in the home this would be considered a lease violation. 

Creating a dedicated pet policy and/or clause in your lease will protect you in the future if you need to claim against the security deposit to cover damages. Your pet policy or clause should include:

The listed approved pet/s including the type and breed

Whether an additional security deposit is required and how much

What damages can be claimed under the security deposit

The resident’s responsibilities for keeping the pet under control and cared for, avoiding damage and nuisance to your home and neighboring properties 

Financial Security Made Simple

What is normal wear and tear on a rental house vs. tenant damage? Find out how to assess for and protect your rental home from costly damages in between tenants

Normal Wear and Tear vs. Tenant Damage: How To Assess Your Rental Home

When a resident in your rental home vacates, you need to hone an essential skill: being able to decipher between regular wear and tear vs tenant damage. After a year or more, your house won’t be in the exact same condition as when you put it on the rental market. But what can come out of a security deposit and what do you need to pay for?

It’s time to play detective, only with less trench coats and more paint swatches.

What is normal wear and tear on a rental property?

Like a favorite pair of shoes, some things deteriorate with regular use. Your home is no different. Wear and tear describes what you would expect from regular use of a home. It doesn’t mean your residents didn’t show enough care, but there’s a reason why the term “lived in” is often used to describe something that is showing its age. 

Here are some examples of where to play Sherlock Holmes to consider what could be wear and tear vs damage:

Faded paint, minor nicks, and a few scuffs or scratches are all part of normal wear and tear. Then again, perhaps your resident went a bit overboard sticking things to the walls and have left tears in the paint. Or remnants of a mini picasso can be seen from a two year old’s efforts with the crayons. 

Wear and tear vs. tenant damage: Consider the property’s age and what is reasonable to expect from how long your residents have been in place. If there’s a few extra marks than before, this would be normal. If there’s holes or large tears in the paint — or a piece of furniture has visibly scraped off some drywall, you should ask to have it repaired or deduct the costs from the security deposit. 

Unauthorized paint and wallpaper is another contentious issue. Be sure to let your residents know that they need to seek permission before making alterations to the walls. Otherwise you can reasonably ask for them to be restored to their original condition, minus some standard wear and tear. 

Over time carpets lose their plushness, develop some snags, and bear the evidence of many accidental spills. Part of turning over a rental home involves having the carpets professionally cleaned, so waiting until this has been completed will show a true picture of whether carpet changes are due to general foot traffic or something else. Excessive stains or a suspiciously iron-shaped burn mark could indicate accidental damage.

You can’t charge a resident for foot traffic and reasonable wear of carpet or flooring. If you find evidence of serious stains such as oil, paint or pet urine that would require additional costs from a professional carpet cleaner to remove, you can definitely ask for residents to cover this cost or withhold this cost from a security deposit. 

For wooden flooring, again scuff marks would be seen as acceptable as would any warping or changing from climate conditions. But if a pet dog has been digging for bones in your living room this would be considered damage.  

The windows and frames are another thing that should be checked over. You can’t rent out your home again with broken windows, so repairs will need to be made quickly. If it appears that a window has cracked due to settling foundations, you can’t hold a resident responsible for damage. Rotted frames are another homeowner responsibility. 

Wear and tear vs. tenant damage: The occasional scratch, crack, or foggy seal is to be expected. Shattered glass from a friendly game of baseball is a definite sign of tenant damage. A pet cat using the patio door or window screens as a scratching post is another sign of damage that residents would be responsible for. 

Bathrooms can be a tricky one. It is your responsibility as the homeowner to ensure that essential facilities like plumbing, toilets and water heaters are well maintained and functioning. It should also be kept free of mold where possible. That means ensuring leaks don’t go unchecked and that any damage or aging pipes are repaired without delay. 

Wear and tear vs. tenant damage: Leaky faucets, a running toilet, or a clogged sink? Normal wear and tear. But an overflowing toilet from playing “will it flush?” — that’s deliberate misuse and you can charge for the plumber call out fee. 

The grout in tiles will also deteriorate over time and is considered wear and tear. But broken/smashed/missing tiles from excessive force is damage.  

How to track wear and tear vs. damage in a rental home

There are two key ways to really determine wear and tear vs. damage in a rental home:

Take photos before and after each new resident moves in

Take notes and extra photos during routine inspections

Routine inspections of your rental home aren’t about being ‘Big Brother’ and intruding on your residents. They’re essential to protecting your investment, by keeping tabs on any wear and tear on the property. It’s also an opportunity to connect with your residents to make sure they’re happy and are sticking to the conditions of the lease agreement. 

During rental inspections, you (or a representative such as Belong or a property manager), should be looking for damage, but also for wear-and-tear on the property that has the potential to become an issue if left unattended. 

Ask residents if they have noticed anything different, take written notes and also photos. When the home is vacant, these notes and photos will make it easier to spot the extent of wear and tear and whether or not anything could be seen as damage. Some counties also require you to have written evidence and invoices in order to claim any amount from the security deposit, even if you do the cleaning or repairs yourself. 

If your home is on Belong’s residential network, we schedule home visits on your behalf to connect with the residents, assess if anything needs fixing, and ensure there are no lease violations occurring. Inspection reports and information can be delivered directly to your smartphone via the Belong app. 

If we identify any maintenance issues or damage, we can provide you with a quote from one of 10,000+ vetted partners in our vendor network to take care of the job and even let you split the costs of any unexpected repairs in easy installments over the term of the lease. 

Does homeowners insurance cover accidental damage in a rental home?

Short answer: no. Many homeowners are surprised to discover that their homeowners insurance policy doesn’t actually cover them for anything once it's tenant-occupied! 

To be covered for damage while a resident that is renting your home, you need dedicated landlords insurance. All landlord policies vary, so you will need to speak to a provider regarding exactly what they cover. 

When you join the Belong network as a homeowner, you’ll be required to have a landlords insurance policy, either through our network or a provider of your choice. This ensures you are protected as a homeowner, covering the cost to repair or replace damaged property, especially if your resident was not at fault. 

Learn more about the difference between homeowners vs landlords insurance here.

Ready to let someone else take on the load of managing your rental home?

Simple protection of your asset (and ensuring you don’t have to play detective over scuffed wall paint!) is just one of the many ways Belong is making it easier than ever for individuals to achieve financial freedom with a rental home. 

Visit our homeowner's page to find out more about how our services are helping people to ditch property management in Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Miami and many more.

Melanie Kershaw

Mel Kershaw is a Content Lead at Belong. With an extensive background working with technology companies including Eventbrite and Yelp, she’s always looking for ways to create educational and informative articles that simplifies tech and solves problems for her audience.

Tamara Epelbaum

Eric Vandekerkhove

Natalie McNeal

Ale, Owen & Tyler Founders

Brett Jaffe

Tamara Epelbaum

Eric Vandekerkhove

Natalie McNeal

Ale, Owen & Tyler Founders

Brett Jaffe