How to Efficiently Handle Tenant Maintenance Requests

November 22, 2015

Tenant Maintenance Tips

Property managers and landlords have responsibilities inevitably need to care of tenant maintenance requests. From chipping paint to leaky faucets, ManageCasa has plenty of tips for handling tenants maintenance requests.

1. Start with the contract – when the lease is written, the terms of maintenance responsibilities should be clearly divided. Generally, the property manager or landlord is not responsible for:

Any damage that was caused by the tenant or the tenant’s guests
Disposing garbage
Maintaining cleanliness of the unit
Replacing smoke detector batteries

Of course, tenants can communicate any issues with the property manager or landlord, and for a fee, the property manager or landlord can choose to handle the issue. In any case, make sure the lease agreement has the responsibilities divided up clearly.

2. Plan for Receiving Maintenance Requests – landlords, property managers, and tenants need a system that for handling maintenance issues. ManageCasa is a great online platform that supports communication for maintenance issues. It allows both parties to post any and keep track of new issues, deadlines, urgency, completion details, and receipts. Using AbodeStory is as easy as signing up online and having property managers, landlords, and tenants join the same property profile. So during onboarding, all that needs to be done is to notify Check out ManageCasa to learn more!

3. Be Specific About the Issue – ask tenants to write descriptions and take photos, if possible, of the issue at hand. On AbodeStory, if the tenant uploads this information to your property profile, you can bring on the appropriate contractor who can look at the description and determine whether it’s a task he/she can take on. Having documentation of all maintenance issues is generally useful also.

4. Prioritize Maintenance Requests – Set up a system that prioritizes your tasks based on criteria such as:

severity of the issue
time requirement of the maintenance update
difficulty to find appropriate contractors

ManageCasa not only helps you find the perfect contractor for the maintenance issues, it also lets you stay updated on upcoming deadlines or new requests for your properties. Get notified on urgent maintenance issues right away if your tenants contact you. Additionally, you can also updated with progress from contractors on their work.