In a perfect world, managing apartments with renters would be a simple matter of collecting rent every month from residents who are happy with the place they are living. Unfortunately, even in the best-managed properties, something can go wrong, and when it does, there may be requests from residents to have that issue repaired. Here’s what you should do.

Always Acknowledge Repair Requests Quickly

This doesn’t necessarily mean that when a repair request happens, you immediately drop everything and address it, but it is crucial to look at repair requests quickly and let the person making the request know that they have been heard and their needs are being processed.

The reason it’s important to acknowledge repair requests quickly is that your resident may be alerting you to a serious problem. If you don’t heed this initial warning, a small, cheap problem may if neglected, turn into a larger, more expensive problem. For example, a report of a bulge in a ceiling usually means a leaking water pipe. If the leak is not quickly solved, an entire ceiling could be ruined and in need of repair.

Prioritize

When multiple things require repair, being able to prioritize and organize jobs is crucial. For example, a broken water or drainage pipe is something that needs to be addressed as quickly as possible. On the other hand, if there is a damaged eavestrough for rain drainage and bad weather is weeks away, that can be secondary to a leak or water pipe break.

Administrate

It’s important to file away and organize repair requests. This can provide valuable insight into the state of your building. For example, if you notice many residents are filing repair requests for plumbing, this may be an indicator to you of a larger problem.

On the other hand, one resident making multiple requests may indicate a problem more with that tenant than the building.

If you’d like to help better manage your property rental investments, contact Occupancy Solutions and let us help.