Better communication by landlords and managing agents would radically improve the satisfaction levels of UK business tenants according to the first RICS Tenant Satisfaction Index.

The results show that tenants are generally unhappy with the property services they receive. This will make interesting reading for an industry in which lease lengths are shortening and tenant retention is becoming more important to financial success. The findings may also raise issues for investors, currently piling into the commercial property market.

The research was carried out by customer satisfaction experts CFI Group and the Occupiers Property Databank at IPD. The report, launched at the annual OPD occupier conference in Canary Wharf (24 February), shows an overall satisfaction score of 39 out of 100. Though the upper quartile score is almost 70, this overall score indicates a generally dissatisfied group of customers.

Tenants identified a number of concerns including dispute resolution, contract detail and lease flexibility. But the single issue where improvement would lead to the biggest increase of satisfaction, is communication.

On this issue tenants were asked about their landlords’ or agents’ availability, whether agents respond in a timely manner, whether they are able to communicate directly with agents, how proactive agents are in communicating and how often agents sought tenants’ opinions about the services offered.

Tenants were relatively content with the standard and location of premises and their value for money.

RICS chief executive Louis Armstrong, said: "The index is an unambiguous wake-up call to the property industry from its customers. The message is clear. Landlords and managing agents who take these findings on board and treat tenants as valued customers, will benefit."

"The best already do so. Good communication and partnering are becoming vital. Occupiers have increasingly sophisticated needs and all property professionals need to understand these."

The Tenant Satisfaction Index represents a benchmark by which future changes in landlord-tenant relationships can be measured and RICS is working with its members to focus on communication as a particular area for improvement.

Christopher Hedley, Director of OPD, said, "Despite the apparently poor results, we strongly suspect that the score would have been considerably worse five years ago. Some of the leading landlords have been making great efforts to communicate more positively with their tenants recently. Whether this will bear fruit is one of the reasons we need the Tenant Satisfaction Index to track progress over the next five years."