Rental property maintenance issues require a tremendous amount of time and coordination. It’s not as simple as others think. As a landlord, you must handle after-hours maintenance. It’s critical to deal with the situation quickly.
But how will you determine emergency maintenance from those that are non-emergency maintenance? In this article, you will know emergency and non-emergency maintenance and how to handle and avoid those issues.
Emergency Maintenance Issues
Remember that maintenance problem that could hurt someone or cause a lot of damage to property or threaten health and safety are called “emergency maintenance.”
Here are some types of emergency maintenance issues
- Natural gas smell – gas leaks can cause harmful situations like death. You should make a call if there’s a suspected gas leak.
- Broken Water Line, flooding, or leaks that can get worse -these things can quickly go from simple to complicated and cause a lot of damage to the property.
- Fire – You should first dial 911 before calling emergency maintenance.
- Septic tank backup or failure- this issue is gross and unsanitary and can cause major damage.
- Non-functioning heat- it is during periods of freezing temperatures.
- Non-functioning air-conditioning unit – during periods of hot weather.
- Power outage- random and unexplained power outages can lead to safety issues and must be addressed immediately.
- A broken door lock – will put tenants in danger because no one but you and your trusted people should be able to get into a rental unit.
Non-Emergency Maintenance Issues
Emergency maintenance is performed when an issue poses an immediate hazard to health, safety, or property.
Here are some examples of non-emergency maintenance.
- Burnt out lightbulbs or fixture
- Appliance malfunction
- No hot water
- Ice maker is broken
- No air conditioning (if the temperature outside is below 90 degrees)
- No heat (if the temperature outside is below 50 degrees)
- Noise complaints
- Parking disputes
- Minor leaks
- Clogged toilet
Tips for Handling Rental Property Emergency Maintenance Issues
Handling tenant request is essential as a landlord. It will also ensure a good and healthy landlord-tenant relationship as well as your rental property protection.
Below are several factors in handling rental property emergency maintenance issues
Reachability
In an emergency, a landlord must be reachable. And assist your tenants in contacting you in case they have any questions.
Emergency Services
Such as, rental property emergencies rarely occur during regular business hours. In particular, it’s better than emergency services for landlords. Also, you need a list of reliable vendors for emergency repairs.
Open Communication
When an emergency is reported to authorities, regular communication with renters is required. You can direct tenants to call a specific provider in certain situations. You must keep your tenant informed of the vendor’s arrival time and any further instructions regarding the property’s safety.
Landlord Responsibilities
When an emergency is reported to authorities. Regular communication with renters is required. You can direct tenants to call a specific provider in certain situations. You must keep your tenant informed of the vendor’s arrival time and any further instructions regarding the property’s safety.
Non-emergency repairs can stick to standard practice. Like, such as providing notice of intent to enter the property and sending vendors during regular business hours.
Answer Vital Questions
Nobody knows when an emergency will strike, so acting quickly and decisively is critical. Like, if there’s a fire, try to manage it once you’re there. It would assist if you located an emergency response professional who could assess the damage.
Determine if the tenant needs interim housing. Who is to blame? Do the tenant’s insurance policies cover emergencies? The next steps rely on the responses to the questions. And it’s great if you communicate with your tenants regularly and honestly.
Mindset of Understanding
Anyone, landlord or tenant, hates dealing with emergencies. When a renter calls in the middle of the night, they may be frustrated, terrified, or confused. You may be upset about the potential damage to the rental property, but you must stay professional and handle the situation.
If they call you and inform a situation, but it’s not an emergency, you must remain calm, and explain the reason. And give them instructions on how to submit a maintenance request. Some will likely call you outside those guidelines even though you give them rental property emergency guidelines.
Especially those who have never rented before. Sometimes, they just get nervous and don’t know what he needs right away. And as a landlord, they need to know they can trust you.
Documentation
There’s always a written record if there’s a maintenance request on regular hours. However, emergencies are a more uncontrollable series of events and start with a phone call. The landlord must still record the emergencies under the file to avoid disputes and confusion.
Write down what was said, what was fixed, what steps were agreed upon, and if there are any follow-ups. So that, it will keep the tenant and landlord in harmony and assure your tenant that you’re the one handling things.
Tips in Handling Rental Property Emergency Maintenance Issues Calls
As a landlord, it would help create an emergency maintenance protocol for you to be prepared. Below are tips for handling emergency maintenance calls.
Tenant Welcome Packet
A tenant welcome packet has several purposes. Every detail you discuss at lease signing with your tenant may not be remembered. So it’s better that you provide a welcome packet with all the helpful information. Moreover, you must include an emergency contact sheet with all the essential contact information for you and essential services personnel.
Positive Emergency Maintenance Issues Vendor Relationship
Maintenance vendor relationships are essential aspects of a landlord’s success. Repairs are unavoidable issues, and you must have a trusted group of contractors that you can rely on. Moreover, screening vendors is also essential, like screening tenants. There are several things that you must look for when interviewing with potential vendors, including:
- Vendor Reputation- A vendor must have a solid reputation in the community. You must access public reviews to evaluate the online presence and referrals. However, it would help to weigh the negative reviews carefully and see the vendor’s response.
- Insurance Coverages- A vendor with no proper coverage could mean a negative thing. It may come to a situation where you may take the fall for any legal, medical, and damage cost. And to avoid that, you must request a Certificate of Coverage before hiring a vendor.
- Understand Cost and Timeline- You must ask for several estimates for a comprehensive job and think about your options carefully. A credible vendor will provide an estimated completion date and meet deadlines.
Answering Services
Some landlords have a lot of rental properties and can’t handle problems at all of them at the same time. The answering service can do the job and take multiple after-hours rental property emergency calls. They will get calls, carefully look at the situation, decide what to do next, send out the right people, and let the tenants know that the problem will be fixed the next day.
Hire Property Manager
Most successful landlords know that hiring a property management company is the best way to get the most out of their investment and deal with things like emergency maintenance. But, choosing a company for your needs requires effort. The most important tip for choosing a property management company is to ask a lot of questions. Here are some questions you might want to ask:
- What is the company’s area of expertise? Different companies focus on different types of property differently. Like residential, multi-family, commercial, or vacation homes. Therefore, you must choose the company that best suits your present and future portfolio goals. And it will make sure they know enough about a certain type of rental property and have enough contacts to deal with it. Having experience in the local market and being knowledgeable about local laws is essential.
- How many support staff do they employ? Another important factor is the number of employees compared to the number of properties. So, to manage your portfolios, you should look for a company with enough property managers and support staff. And it includes accountants, leasing agents, administrative staff, and maintenance staff.
- What are the services they offer? A landlord hires a property management company to help him or she feel less stressed. But you need to look at what they offer and compare it to the fees they charge. And make a final decision based on that information and any other information you have gathered. Lastly, you should ask how they find tenants, collect rent, do inspections, charge for accounting services, and do anything else that has to do with tenants.
The Bottomline
Maintenance issues are essential things that a landlord must handle and resolve. You must also need to know the difference between the two maintenance issues: emergency and non-emergency so that you can handle them accordingly.
Talking to your tenant and giving them reminders like packets will help them figure out what maintenance is an emergency and what isn’t. And they’ll know what to do about certain things.
Also, if you have a good relationship with the vendor, it will be easier to solve maintenance problems, especially urgent ones. In particular, you must have a group of reliable vendors you can call after business hours.
However, if you have multiple rental properties and you can’t handle them all at the same time the best thing that you can do is hire a property management company like Pro Realty. To efficiently and effectively manage your rental properties.
