Proactive Rental Unit Maintenance

[Matthew Gil]

Last winter we got slammed with a lot of furnace problems with our units. This year we resolved that we were going to do a furance inspection on all of our units in October, so that we can prevent any surprises before winter.

My question, what other preventive maintenance do you landlords do? Since, our handyman will be going around and checking, cleaning and replacing the filter on all of our units, I figured we'd also have look at some additional stuff (example, look for water leaks).

Thanks,

[Matthew Gil]

http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/energy-power/fall-homemaintenance-todo-list-kiplingercom-097064

[Enzennio Mallozzi]

I guess this is stating the obvious, but talking to tenants and asking them about the apt helps me. Many times they see the problem when its small, but dont mention it because they dont want to be a pain.

[Account Closed]

Fall service:

We've already had furnaces serviced and replaced a fan in one furnace that sounded a bit noisy; don't want the bearings going out when it is 20 below and the HVAC guys are swamped.

The chimney sweep has made his rounds a full month ago. Leaves are out of gutters, irrigation sprinklers have been blown out, water pumps drained, weather stripping checked and replaced as needed. One house had some insulation added under the floor.

I still have to get out and put some flashing on a shed where the tenant told me the wall got damp when it rained over the summer.

I had a backhoe out to replace a culvert under a driveway.

Unfortunately, I get fairly frequent turnover and each house is completely repaired down to the last screw tightened between tenants.

My tenants know to call me for even piddly little repairs. I am always cheerful and thank them for calling. I don't want them to think I resent it when they call me. It's easy to frighten tenants out of calling for minor repairs.

Late in the winter, I will go around and prune trees and shrubery. I'm waiting until everything is fully dormant and the worst of the freezes have passed.

I have noticed that one roof is geting near the end, so will budget to have that replacesd sometime in the next two years. Paint looks good all around.

I don't know why, but tenants are hard on the weather stripping around the doors. So that has been replaced all around. I'd say that if they pull it off, they can live with the draft, except that what happens is that they move because the house is cold or the heating bill too high.

[Shaun Steckler]

Have your handyman check the plumbing and water heater. Our biggest repair expenses come from plumbing.

Also, make sure the exterior of each property is litter-free. That's a pet peev of mine.