Landlord/PM response time to an issue

[Sam Leon]

I am curious, fellow landlords or PM, what is your response time to a tenant complaint?

I know it's not cut and dry, and definitely depends on the nature of the problems.

I would think a water line break or sewage backup would warrant an immediate response?

A broken central AC in the middle of summer may be within 24 hours?

A broken washer or dryer say 48-72 hours?

A stuck garbage disposer...when I get around to it I will just remove it altogether?

Is that about right?

How do you set expectations with your tenants on how quickly you or your PM will respond to issues?

Do you have something in the lease to address this specific point?

Do you have any references to define what "true emergencies" are?  For example, for a 1 BR apartment, you take a hot shower for 20 minutes in the morning, and your boy friend (who is not even on the lease) goes in the shower after you and his hot water runs out in 10 minutes - is NOT an emergency?

[Elizabeth Maille]

@Sam Leon Hi Sam, I'm an investor down here in South Florida with a Property Management Company in Fort Lauderdale that services all of South Florida.

Response times definitely varies. When we sign leases, we give tenants a list of what is considered an emergency and what is considered a non-emergency. While we are as prompt as possible, it usually depends how fast someone is available to get there.

I have a list of what we constitute as emergency/non-emergency and how we handle different situations for our company that we give to the tenants when we sign a lease. Feel free to message me with questions, I'd love to help and I'm always looking to network with investors in the area.

Elizabeth