Maintance requests from tenants

[Miller Josh]

How do you guys handle maintenance requests from tenants? I manage my own properties and at this time have only 6 tenants but want to set up a simple system to handle these requests. Do you just have them call you? I have heard some people have requests come in online or email or is that just for large investors? I plan to keep increasing my rentals at least a few per year. Any thoughts would be great!

[Marcia Maynard]

We ask tenants to call us for urgent needs. We ask them to fill out a maintenance request form and send it in the mail with their rent for non-urgent needs. Most of the time however, we find out when we do our periodic inspections and ask the tenants in person... "Are there any maintenance items that need attention?" "Anything broken or damaged?" "Are all the appliances working well?" 

We enjoy talking with our tenants in person, to develop rapport and to check in with them about their level of satisfaction. When we do our inspections, we also get a chance to see how well the tenant is adhering to the terms of the rental agreement. It is not uncommon for a tenant to keep their needs and comments to themselves until they see us in person.