Did I make a mistake managing my first property ?

Question

Closed my first property earlier this year. Its managed by a PM. I wanted to get some basic maintenance work done like fix some loose siding, fix downspout, clean gutters. Also some work inside the house like recaulk the bathtub, fix a window sil, add a carbon monoxide detector.

Anyways I had a handyman lined up to do this work. He had assumed that the tenant ordered this work. He called the tenant and was turned away from the property. I had assumed he would line up a day with the tenant to get this done.

Should I not get the interior work done to give the tenant his space? Or should the handyman coordinate with the tenant to find a day to get all this done?

Michael Smythe · Answer

Why are you not coordinating this with the PMC you hired?

Your causing chaos by not doing so!

Michael Smythe · Answer

@Gurjot Grewal Have your PMC Blind Copy you on their emails to the tenants.

You could also ask them to call you first, then conference call the tenant onto the call to address this issue.

NOTE: as a PMC, we've done all these things to prove to owners the tenant is the problem. What we try to AVOID is the owner getting in the middle. We want EVERYTHING to run through us.

Colleen F. · Answer

@Gurjot Grewal  how was maintenance handled before?  I would give them a window the work will be done. The handyman can set up a time, most of it sounds like outside so it should not inconvenience the tenant.  The only inside one that would be an issue is caulking the tub.  If they can't work with the handlyman, I would have the PM have a communication with the tenant on how their new landlord is trying to address maintenance in the house and they should be happy for this. The single visit should take care of those issues. Absence of a CO detector is a significant safety issue and is usually directed by the fire department. I thought you couldn't close in some places without them.

Stephanie Walker · Answer

Are all of these items things that the PM knew you wanted done prior to tenancy? As a PM myself, I prefer to get all maintenance tasks done prior to tenancy to avoid these situations.

Chris Seveney · Answer

You need to tell the tenant what work you want to get done and give them a window for when you want the work done. Make sure they know to lock up any valuables within the unit.

It is important to coordinate. Why? My neice had a friend who lives in off campus college housing and the landlord thought everyone left for winter break and one of the tenants did not and they had a handy man go do repairs and the handyman did the repairs and also brought a hooker to the house - the tenant came home and you can say was surprised to see what was going on in the living room...

Gurjot Grewal · Answer

@Alecia Loveless In hindsight this is what I should've done. Much less headache for myself as well. This is what I'll do going forward, thank you.

@Michael Smythe I did try to coordinate. But turns out they have been unable to connect with the tenant. The tenant denies anyone is reaching out to him according to my handyman. So someone is telling lies.

Alecia Loveless · Answer

@Gurjot Grewal Hi. In theory if you have a property manager you should probably give them your list of things you want done and let them handle it unless you have made other arrangements with them. It will likely cost more than you just hiring your own handyman but the property manager has the keys to the unit and should only have to give the tenant 24 hour notice to go into the unit to make repairs, or whatever amount of notice is required in your state or is stated in the lease.

Did I make a mistake managing my first property ?

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