Pre-empting Tenant Service Requests via Lease Clause?

Question

Good morning! Does anyone have a good way to nip unnecessary tenant service calls in the bud? Let me explain:

I previously had a tenant who put in two service requests that turned out to be nothing. One was for a toilet that she said wouldn't flush (turns out she wasn't allowing the tank more than a few seconds to refill) and one was for the unit being too hot (in a building that has a central plant system, meaning the entire building is on either a/c or heat and individual units cannot control their own heating and cooling). In each case as per our SOP, my property manager immediately sent a tech over to assess the problem only to find out that, really, there was nothing we could fix. And naturally, I was then stuck with the bill.

With this tenant specifically, I got the property manager to start sending me the maintenance requests directly for the remainder of the lease. As a result, I was able to find simple solutions for a few subsequent requests that saved everyone time and headaches. That said, I'd love to reinforce somehow in the new lease that indeed, the tenant can and should consider "home remedies" for some of these issues that really don't require a visit from a specialist.

I have adjusted my own SOPs and talked to my property manager about screening requests before immediately calling in a technician. That said, I would love to get some sort of clause in future leases that will help tenants understand and acknowledge that they can actually fix many apparent problems quite simply.

Anyone have thoughts on this? or language from a lease to share? Or am I being unrealistic in hoping to get a tenant to understand that indeed, the toilet tank does not refill instantaneously?

Drew Sygit · Answer

Two ways to TRY to address, but tenants will try to "break" anything you put in place😡

1) Have clause in lease that tenant responsible for the costs of any & all service calls that find nothing wrong.

2) Clause stating, PMC MAY charge the first $x amount of any & all service calls, solely at manager's discretion. - Check your state and local regulations on this as may not be allowed.

Scott Smith · Answer

Hi Kevin. Good stuff here. I do like SOPs, so expanding them for the property manager I think would be a solid move.

I hadn't even thought about the possible unintended circumstances regarding maintenance issues - like you said, asking for the first $50 of each service call might end up meaning the tenant doesn't call in something that truly needs to be fixed, and then I've got bigger problems.

It's a good reminder to me that some of this stuff is just the cost of doing business. I'll try to mitigate everything I can but yeah, really, there's no way to prevent any and all of these service calls.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

James Mc Ree · Answer

It seems like a talk with your PM would be a good first step. Your PM can send someone out right away and bill you for the trip, so it's a benefit for them, especially if they have a tech just sitting around. You might need to change PMs if that is their SOP. You definitely need to change PMs if you need to give them an SOP.

My lease contains a clause that I get paid whenever they call me for service they are responsible for, like a clogged toilet. I encourage them to call for help if needed regardless of who is responsible. Triage over the phone is always the first step as the tenant might not be able to fix it, but they can tell me what they see.

A service visit is a nice opportunity to get eyes on the property which also has value. Someone who doesn't know how to properly flush a toilet almost certainly has other issues going on inside the property.

You may have a couple needy tenants who just need to live somewhere else when their lease expires. Don't renew them if they are a burden.

Theresa Harris · Answer

I think whether it is a PM or landlord, they should talk to the tenant to find out more than what is written in the request.  Doing that would have prevented the need for someone to go out and check out the toilet.  I had a request through my PM where the fridge would go on and off and the light would flicker....turns out the plug wasn't fully inserted and it cost me $100 because the PM didn't ask them to check the plug.

Kevin Sobilo · Answer

@Scott Smith, a few thoughts:

1. I don't believe what you are asking for will give you what you want.

There are ways to coerce tenants to be more self sufficient. For example, by making them responsible for the first $50 of every service call similar to a health insurance co-pay.

However, I suspect you would have as much or more issue with the probably result. Eventually, a tenant will take that as reason to fix things poorly themselves or to let issues fester causing more damage either way. Often times damage isn't found until move-out and deposits may not cover it. Plus you may incur added vacancy while repairs are done.

2. I think you were on the right track asking your property manager to triage maintenance requests before sending out a tech and creating a service call expense. Maybe create a FAQ for the PM to use. As you get more calls, add more things to the FAQ.

3. What type of heat is this? Just because the heat is central and not zoned does not mean that a tenant cannot control the temperature in each room SOMEWHAT.

For example, if you have hot water baseboard heat the tenant complaining a room was too hot, could adjust the louvers on the baseboard heaters to be more closed. By restricting airflow a little less heat is given off to the room when the heat is running thereby keeping the room a little cooler.

4. I think you will always have a few oddball tenants who don't know anything that seems like common sense to you. I will give tenants a little leeway in this regard. Just a cost of doing business to some extent unless its willful and egregious.

Scott Smith · Answer

Yes! This is great! Thank you!

Pre-empting Tenant Service Requests via Lease Clause?

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