Property Management

[Monica Kovalsky]

What maintenance and repairs items are typically included in a property management fee?

[Wade Williams]

In Iowa, none. Maintenance and repairs are never fall under the cost responsibilities of the property manager, always the tenant/owner (tax write-off for owners). This is why it is important that a property manager collecting a fee does well to protect the interest of his investor by not assuming negligent costs. Every cost is either a tenant or owner charge. For this reason, if a tenant calls due to a malfunction of the smoke detectors and a technician is dispatched, you can have the following outcomes:

• Technician determines the smoke detectors were faulty, and replaces - owner charge
• Technician determined the smoke detectors batteries needed replacing - tenant charge
  • If written into the lease that the tenant is responsible for such replacement and the detector was easily reachable, - if not or if the tenant is elderly or disabled, assume reasonable accommodation: owner charge=time/labor & tenant charge=battery cost

Where the property manager must be mindful is in the allocation of the owner's resources (money). If the technician is employed by the manager and shows up to the job site and has neither smoke detector or battery stock on hand while attempting to charge the owner/tenant for the time it takes to go to the store and come back - that is negligent management. 

So in a way, if you have in-house maintenance technicians, than carrying commonly applied maintenance and repair stock on hand is cost included within the management fee (overhead).

If you have any questions, message me and I can elaborate in further detail! Hope I was able to help!