Here are some of the best questions for a tenants survey about common area cleanliness, plus smart tips on designing your survey. You can build a tailored, AI-powered survey in seconds with Specific using the AI survey generator.
Best open-ended questions for tenant surveys about common area cleanliness
Open-ended questions let tenants share detailed experiences and insights you’d never uncover with a checkbox. They’re best when you want to hear honest context, stories, or suggestions—especially when collecting feedback on qualitative issues like cleanliness in shared spaces. According to the 2023 Tenant Satisfaction Survey by the Irish Council for Social Housing, 99% of respondents emphasized the importance of good quality housing—which of course includes clean, well-maintained common areas. [1]
What is your overall impression of the cleanliness in the communal areas of your building?
Can you describe a recent experience where you were either satisfied or dissatisfied with the cleanliness of the shared spaces?
Do you notice any recurring issues with cleanliness in specific common areas (e.g., hallways, lobbies, laundry rooms)?
How does the level of cleanliness impact your daily life or experience as a tenant?
Are there particular times or days when the common areas seem more or less clean?
Have you reported cleanliness issues before? If so, how was your concern handled?
In your opinion, what is working well regarding the maintenance of communal spaces?
What improvements would you like to see in the cleaning routines for shared areas?
Are there any suggestions for communication about cleaning schedules or standards?
Is there anything else about the common area cleanliness you’d like us to know?
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for tenant surveys about common area cleanliness
Single-select multiple-choice questions are great for quantifying satisfaction and identifying patterns at scale. When you want to benchmark satisfaction year-over-year, or break the ice to encourage more candid sharing, keep it simple—put a clear list of options so tenants can answer quickly. Sometimes it’s easier for people to start with a selection and then elaborate if prompted, making it a smooth entryway for follow-up.
Question: How satisfied are you with the cleanliness of the building's common areas?
Very satisfied
Satisfied
Neutral
Dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied
Question: Which common area do you think requires the most attention regarding cleanliness?
Hallways
Lobby
Elevators
Laundry room
Other
Question: How often have you noticed cleanliness issues in shared spaces in the past month?
Never
Once or twice
A few times
Regularly
When to followup with "why?" Use a follow-up “why” question any time you want to understand the motivation behind a tenant’s selection—especially for negative responses. For instance, if someone selects “Dissatisfied,” ask, “Why do you feel dissatisfied with the cleanliness?” This transforms a single data point into actionable insight, echoing the approach recommended by survey experts for surfacing underlying reasons behind scores. [3]
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always add “Other” when your initial options might not cover every scenario. Tenants can reveal unexpected pain points or new priorities. Following up when someone selects “Other” uncovers insights you didn’t think to ask—these surprise responses often become your next round of improvements.
NPS-style survey question for tenants: is it relevant?
Net Promoter Score (NPS) may seem tailored for customer satisfaction, but it’s also a powerful way to measure tenants’ overall approval of their living environment—including common area cleanliness. Ask: “On a scale from 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend living in this building to a friend or colleague, based on the cleanliness of common areas?” This gives you a simple benchmark to track and evaluate the impact of cleaning policies over time. And with NPS, you can easily segment promoters, passives, and detractors to customize follow-up outreach. Curious to try it? Use this NPS survey template for tenants.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions can make or break the quality of your insights. Instead of leaving ambiguous or vague responses on the table, Specific’s automated follow-ups use AI to immediately dig deeper—just like an expert interviewer. The AI customizes follow-ups on the fly, depending on the respondent’s previous answer and the actual situation. This not only saves you the time you’d otherwise spend chasing people via email, but it also makes tenants feel heard. As the Oxford City Council STAR survey shows, satisfaction dips when complaints or concerns aren’t addressed thoroughly—follow-ups ensure nothing slips through the cracks. [2]
Tenant: "The hallways are sometimes dirty."
AI follow-up: "Can you describe when you typically notice the hallways being dirty, and what kinds of issues you see?"
How many followups to ask? On average, 2-3 follow-up questions are enough to get full clarity. It’s best to enable settings that allow skipping to the next question when you feel you’ve gathered what’s needed—Specific makes it easy to fine-tune this.
This makes it a conversational survey: Instead of blasting through a static form, each response shapes the next question, so your survey actually becomes a conversation—tenants feel like you’re truly listening.
Easy response analysis with AI: While follow-ups mean you gather more unstructured data, analyzing it doesn’t have to be a headache: with tools like Specific’s AI-powered response analysis, you can chat with your data to extract patterns and themes, no matter how much text you collect.
Automated, dynamic follow-up questions let you unlock the real stories behind tenant feedback. Don’t just take our word for it—generate a survey now and see how these probing questions transform the insights you collect.
How to prompt ChatGPT to generate great tenant survey questions on cleanliness
If you want to brainstorm unique questions, here’s how to use prompts with ChatGPT or other large language models to get creative, specific results.
Start simple, like:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for tenants survey about common area cleanliness.
But you’ll get far better questions if you add more context about your tenants, the building, your goals, or issues you want to focus on. For example:
I'm collecting feedback from tenants in a multi-family apartment building, aiming to improve the cleaning routines and address any recurring issues. Suggest 10 specific, open-ended questions that will help me uncover both complaints and things that are working well in common areas.
To organize your questions, ask:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Once you see the categories (for example: ‘Satisfaction with cleaning staff,’ ‘Reported issues,’ and ‘Communication about cleaning’), prompt the AI to deep-dive:
Generate 10 questions for the category ‘Communication about cleaning schedules’.
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey blends the structure of traditional surveys with the natural give-and-take of a chat. Instead of answering static lists, tenants respond to a flexible AI interviewer, who adapts questions and follow-ups in real time. This experience feels less like a form to fill out, and more like a personal conversation. With AI survey generators like Specific, anyone can launch a professional-looking, thoughtfully structured conversational survey in minutes—not days.
Here’s how AI-powered conversational surveys compare to traditional forms:
Manual Survey Creation | AI Survey Generator / Conversational Survey |
|---|---|
Manually add each question, edit for clarity | Describe your goal—AI suggests optimal questions |
No automatic follow-up; you risk vague responses | AI asks smart follow-ups, probing for detail |
Time-consuming to analyze qualitative feedback | AI summarizes and chats about survey responses |
Traditional, static experience for tenants | Smooth, mobile-friendly chat interface boosts engagement |
Why use AI for tenants surveys? Because surveys aren’t just about speed—they’re about relevance and depth. AI survey generators give you instant, expert-level questions, dynamic follow-ups, and built-in analysis, so you’re not left staring at a data dump. Tools like Specific deliver best-in-class conversational surveys that engage both you and your residents, leading to more honest, thoughtful feedback. Want to know exactly how to get started? Check out our detailed guide to tenant survey creation for actionable tips.
Whether you’re collecting feedback from hundreds of tenants or just a handful of residents, an AI survey example from Specific is the fastest route to smart, actionable insights—no research degree required.
See this common area cleanliness survey example now
Get a head start by seeing exactly what a results-driven, AI-generated tenant survey looks like. Create a conversational survey that adapts to every response and delivers real, actionable insights—no complicated setup, just results that matter.