Whether you’re a property manager or a landlord, you have a lot to juggle, and maintenance requests can add to an already heavy load. Luckily, there are options to make your life easier and to help you get maintenance tasks out of the way. Read on to learn how to quickly and effectively handle maintenance requests.
Set Yourself Up for Success
You need to start on the right foot to prevent yourself from getting inundated with tasks or disagreements about who’s responsible for what. You need a clear and detailed maintenance request policy in your lease agreement for many reasons, the most important being that it prevents you and tenants from arguing about responsibility. The last thing you want to do as a landlord is waste time going back and forth between tenants and explaining your policies. Additionally, a well-written maintenance clause will let tenants know when they should expect tasks to get done and what defines a priority task.
Require Paperwork and Details
An excellent tip for getting maintenance requests done fast is requiring your tenants to fill out paperwork. With the correct forms, your tenants can quickly submit requests and give you all the necessary information to complete the job. For example, a maintenance request form will ask the tenant to specify the problem, how it’s affecting their day-to-day living, when the issue started, and other relevant information. If you give your tenants the option to fill this form out online, they can also include helpful photos if necessary.
Set Up a Priority System
Your maintenance request policy should outline what tasks you consider priorities or emergencies. Additionally, the lease should state the priority levels and how quickly each level gets addressed on average. But if you need help creating the system, there are a few easy guidelines to keep in mind.
Low-priority requests are tasks that don’t affect day-to-day living and are usually cosmetic, such as needing a new paint job. Medium priority tasks are usually preventative to keep your property in optimal working condition, such as replacing air conditioner filters. High-priority tasks will get completed quickly to prevent further damage, such as a leaking roof. Lastly, emergency tasks are requests that need immediate attention because they either present an immediate danger or affect the overall quality of living, such as loss of power or an HVAC failure.
The best way to quickly and effectively handle maintenance requests is to create an open and clear line of communication between you and your tenants. Not only will this help prevent disagreements and arguments, but you’ll also save time and energy.
