Who changes your furnace air filter?

Question

I'm new to renting, and this is one of the many small details I don't have the answer to.
It would be free for me to ask my renters to change the air filter in the furnace every month, but I'm skeptical they would do it.

What does everyone else do?
Is there a good trick, like maybe signing a HVAC contract with a major service provider, or something like that?

Thanks

Dawn Anastasi · Answer

You let them know how changing the filter saves them money.  My tenants pay their own heat/electric.  So they have an incentive to keep them clean.

Bill Gulley · Answer

Reminds me, I need to change mine! Guess I'm in the 95% :)

Scott W. · Answer

since a lot of people on here like to rip on renters, i would guess 95% of homeowners don't change their filters on a regular basis, if at all.

as a matter of fact, i forgot to change my filter in my house last month!

James H. · Answer

I do it.

Seth Williams · Answer

My property manager takes care of this for me. I believe they change it out quarterly.

Some tenants can be trusted to do this, and some can't - so as a general rule (and for consistency's sake), they just assume that nobody will be competent/dependable enough to do this, and the property manager handles it.

Dawn Anastasi · Answer

I've always had my tenants do it.  You take the old one out, you put the new one in. There's really not much to it.

Joel Owens · Answer

You can change it for them once  a month for example as part of your inspection.

Let them know you are checking the unit monthly for safety issues. You will get too see how they live and shady tenants will not want to rent from you knowing you will care about your units and be checking on them.

Buy the really cheapo filters and install monthly. If they want some super expensive thing they need to buy and you have installed. If the filter isn't set properly dust can start accumulating on the motor and cause burn out and premature failure sooner.

Alex O. · Answer

I also don't trust tenants for maintenance things.  But I like to do it myself because it gives me an excuse to inspect the property.  This way I have a legit maintenance excuse to drop-in, look around and make sure everything is going as planned.

David A. · Answer

I learned to do it myself. Don't trust tenants with this they don't care to mess up your unit!

Bill Gulley · Answer

I did it or my handy guy, never a tenant, it's maintenance and an owner responsibility. While it's simple, you can screw it up, not getting the door back on properly and causing draft issues whcih could lead to other issues. :)

Who changes your furnace air filter?

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