Any landlords shut your phone off at night?

Question

Just wondering if any landlord turn off  / do not answer phone calls after a certain time at night like 9pm and all calls wait till morning

I shut my off at 9pm till 7am to try to give my self some stress free time or is that a bad idea since if something major goes wrong over night they cannot contact me, but I dont want to get minor calls at 11pm or 4am to deal with.

Just wanted to see your opinion or thoughts?

Curtis Bidwell · Answer

Like Brian, I evaluate the text/voicemail and determine the priority.  I address this very directly during our move-in orientation. I let them know that they can call/text anytime for real emergencies, I just don't guarantee I will answer, but be assured that I get the message and will evaluate it.

The late night calls are usually someone upset with their neighbor, not true emergencies.  I don't respond to those until I see them later.  I let them know that those are not appropriate calls at that time of night (call the police if they are a noise nuisance).  I have direct oversight of over 40 units and I very seldom get a late night call.

Marcia Maynard · Answer

We take calls 24/7 and if we are not available (vacation, working out of town, etc.) we assign the duty to our property assistant. Our tenants do not call after hours unless it is an emergency/urgent need. We establish our work hours and let our tenants know how to best contact us (office, mobile, text, email, postal mail) and on which days and times we will be most available to tend to their needs. This has worked well for us for 19+ years.

Dan Bosak · Answer

I do the same as Brian, I let them leave a message (or in many cases, they text), so I can determine if it is truly an emergency or not before calling back.  If it's not an emergency and they call at 2AM, I make sure I remind them what constitutes an emergency.

I also have a separate "office" number that I give to tenants which I host at ring-central and I have it set up to just take a message which then emails it out to me and anyone else associated with the property.  I've used this as a back-up in case I am not avail and there is a real issue.

My next step is going to give only this number to tenants and set this up so it forwards to my cell during business hours and then after will take a message.  I will have an option for emergency which will allow it to forward 24/7 and will make sure the outgoing message clearly indicates what constitutes an emergency.

Brian Johnson · Answer

I have my tenants saved in my phone.  After 5:00pm I let it go to voicemail and listen to the message. I then determine if I need to call back.

Aaron Montague · Answer

My property manager handles all of my late night calls.

Bryan N. · Answer

I use a tracfone when listing a property.  One $20 phone card is usually all I need and if any whack jobs want to keep texting/calling the phone is shutdown when the property is rented.  I tried google voice, but for some reason I would never receive calls from sprint and at&t.

When the lease is signed I switch them over to my personal cell.  But, I always tell them to communicate through email.  Email provides written records for both parties in case the relationship errodes and its convenient to forward if needed.   So, 100% of the communications is via email.  When I do a walk through I tell the tenants to call me if there is "WATER WATER EVERYWHERE" which is their trigger for an emergency and an appropriate time to call me.  I repeat that many times on the walk through.

Jerry W. · Answer

I give out my personal cell phone number to tenants, it is on the lease, and I never turn it off.  I have never had a tenant abuse it.  Perhaps it is my unfair advantage.

Aly W. · Answer

I also do what @Brian Johnson does. The tenants are told to call between 9AM and 6PM with regular requests, and they can email/text anytime. We live over an hour from 2 of our rentals, and a 3 hour plane ride from the others. Our contractor also takes calls during that time. The tenants have been shown how to turn off the water. Nearly every rental has more than 1 bathroom if plumbing is an issue. It's worked fine so far.

Any landlords shut your phone off at night?

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