Rio Rancho, NM · Member since 2016 · 57 posts · 41 votes
I know probably some of you actually have. What's a typical year like in the landlord-tenant relationship, though? Do you expect two or three issues per tenant a year or two or three a month? A week?
Thanks for any replies to my first post on BiggerPockets.
I have a protective clause in my lease that makes clogged toilets the tenant's issue, not mine, unless it is an issue with the pipes in the home (which is very rare). The exact wording of the clause is "Landlord shall keep the plumbing in working condition, however, Landlord is not responsible for sinks, bathtubs, water basins, or toilets that have been clogged by Tenant’s or Tenant’s guests use. Tenant shall immediately repair any clogged sinks, baths, or toilets and notify Landlord of such clogging and repair.
I have my phone on automatic "do not disturb" between the hours on 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. in general so I will not hear any communication between those hours. If there is an emergency, that is what "911" is for, otherwise, it can wait until normal hours. I am very good about communicating with them though during normal hours (which to me is between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.). I will answer and text promptly to make sure they know their concerns are addressed.
I woke up one morning to a call made at 2 am that "the air wasn't working". Luckily I slept through it.
Before I could call the tenant back, she called me. Issue solved. They replaced the dead batteries in the thermostat.
This is a tenant that works the night shift at a hospital and I'm guessing when she came home after work is when she found out about the air. So, what does she do? Call the landlord of course. Like I can do something about her air at 2 am?
I do agree that the first week after a move in is when you might get the most calls from tenants. I've already posted on Bigger Pockets that I got one from a recent tenant who asked what was wrong with the hot water heater because they didn't have any hot water. The heater was fine; the problem was the gas meter was locked because, despite providing them information on how to set up gas service two weeks before they moved in, they failed to do this.
I've never had such a call. I screen my tenants well and set expectations with them at the outset about calling meme about small issues that aren't emergencies. If water is flowing onto the floor that's an emergency and i want that call at 3AM
Many landlords say "if it is 3AM don't call me unless the house is on fire." In reality most landlords I know do not own a firetruck.
The only thing that would really need to be addressed at 3 AM would be a burst water pipe. Pretty much everything else can wait until the morning. If the tenants are intelligent enough to turn off the water even a burst water pipe can wait until the morning.
Not once have I gotten a call at 3am. I have gotten the random butt dial, however.
Dawn, you're very funny. My tenants have not "butt-dialed" me yet.
But even if they try, they won't because they don't know my number.
I have Property Managers for my multi-family apartments and for my houses, I have the head of my Sales & Leasing department as the one who answers tenant-inquiries. Also, for my houses, I do rent to own so getting calls for maintenance and repairs is rare to begin with.
This past January my tenant called me at 10:00 pm on a Friday night telling me that the basement floor drain was backed up with water and feces on the floor. Nice, huh? He demanded that I call a plumber immediately to fix it that night. I made a few calls and the going rate after hours on the weekend was over $300 to snake it. I told my tenant that I couldn't reach anyone and that my plumber friend would be there in the morning. My tenant wasn't satisfied so he called Roto-Rooter. RR then called me asking for permission to go there. I said "no". I again told my tenant that my friend would do it in the morning. My friend did it and only charged me $90. I wasn't there when my friend snaked it. While there, my tenant told my friend that they think it backed up because the lady of the house flushed a tampon and maxi-pad down the toilet.
10 days later my tenant called me again one afternoon during the week and said it was backed up again. I asked him why it was backing up again so soon and asked if they had flushed another tampon down the toilet. He became angry, said they never flushed a tampon, that my friend lied, and my friend was not allowed over to snake it again and for me to find another plumber! And he said, "Don't disrespect me". I told him my friend was going over there to do it and I was meeting him there to help, talk to him and assess the situation. Then he told me my friend was allowed over but for me to stay home!! I ignored him and went there anyway (afterall, it's my f**cking house, lol).
We snaked it, put tree root killer down the drain and I haven't heard anything about it since Feb.
I've never gotten a 3am call yet...I do specify very clearly in my leases that issues caused by the tenant shall be the responsibility of the tenant to fix. So far, I've not ran across a clogged sink or toilet (even I'm my home ) that was not caused by those living there.....so the tenants know and I tell them this verbally too before the sign the contract that I don't fix those, they fix them. And everyone is happy :)
I never have. I set ground rules with my tenants from day one. If it's an emergency call 911 first then call me. If it can wait until the morning call me in the morning, and I'll come by and look at the problem. You have to quantify what an emergency is with them, and they generally don't call late.
@Account Closed I have never had a 3AM call. I had one a year ago when a shut off valve started leaking (It was around 10:30pm). But I don't get many calls from tenants, typically 1-2 a year per property
Let me one of the first to welcome you to B/P. Great place to network and learn. I have been here over 2 years and have met some great people here and been able to keep up with the market. I broke into the real estate business with a mentor and he taught me the land business so I never experienced tenant or toilets so good luck with that as I never have anyone bothering me only me bothering them if they are not paying me the terms on the note that I create by the sale of the vacant land.
NOOOOOOO! Now we are all going to get Friday Humor calls.
As for me, only 1 call at 3am. It was because two young ladies didn't know how to check the batteries in the CO detector. They had to wait out in the stairwell for about 30 mins until I got there.
If your business is set up to where you are getting calls to your personal cell phone at 3am for any reason you probably have a hobby and not a business.
Set up systems to prevent that ever from happening.
There are valid calls that I would like to receive since I do self manage my properties. So, I do not discount tenants being able to reach me on important issues. One such was a burst water pipe...tenant went out of town...got home around 10pm and the master bathroom had water all over the floor and seeping onto master bedroom carpet.... ..I went there immediately, to preserve further damage. Turned off the water...
There are valid calls that I would like to receive since I do self manage my properties. So, I do not discount tenants being able to reach me on important issues. One such was a burst water pipe...tenant went out of town...got home around 10pm and the master bathroom had water all over the floor and seeping onto master bedroom carpet.... ..I went there immediately, to preserve my asset from further damage. Turned off the water... had it fixed the next day. So, it's a balancin act...and about prioritizing what is petty and can wait and what is important. ..my 2 cents :)
Never once. I have gotten called twice on a Friday late afternoon/early evening before a holiday weekend that the AC was not working, but all it took was a call to my HVAC contractor's after hours service line and they took care of it. Had to pay a premium cost for the service, but other than that, no skin off my back and both times the tenants were thrilled that I got it taken care of so quickly on a holiday weekend.
My phone is off at 3am, so I guess I'd call my plumber the next morning if that ever happened.
I'll get a text about every 3 or 4 months about an issue that needs to be fixed. I match the issue with a list of contractors that I've used in the past, and they go fix the problem. I pay with a credit card over the phone. I've never received a call or text at 3am and it wouldn't really matter because my phone is on silent anyways. Like other people said, set boundaries with the tenants and stick to it.
I'm the sort who'll fix a problem myself before asking for help from anyone, I'd be embarrassed to ask a landlord to unclog a toilet or replace a battery in a thermostat. So, much of this wouldn't occur to me.
That said, it seems like I need a list of little things to check between tenants, in addition to the big stuff that seems obvious. Such as, change the batteries in the smoke detectors, thermostat and garage door opener, and also things as check the operation of faucets to make sure they turn off all the way easily and run a load of laundry if my unit includes the washer and dryer.
The idea of putting who is responsible for exactly what maintenance in the lease seems like a really good one.
Finally, going over all of the lease during the initial walk-through and making sure they know how to get the utilities transferred to their name, etc. I expect to put together a welcome kit for my new tenants--I'll have it online in my website, of course, but I think a paper version is more immediate and would prompt quicker action.
I do a walk through of the property with the tenants on move on. I show them where all of the shut offs are in the event of an emergency. They are instructed to shut the water off, clean up as best they can, then contact me. If you give your tenant clear expectations, I find they follow them. We cover everything that comes up in the normal operations of property management, how to pay, how to submit a repair request, what items (including light bulbs and clogged toilets) they will be responsible for, etc.
It's also up to you to hold up your end of the transaction, which means attending to any repairs and issues that are your responsibility in an efficient time frame. Water emergencies usually being at the top of the list, followed by HVAC and water heaters (nobody likes cold showers). While we understand nobody likes to be inconvenienced by repairs, it is a fact of life. Clear expectations and good communication - during regular business hours of course - keep tenants feeling as if they matter and usually take the repairs in stride.
Having said all that, at some point you will have a problem at the worst possible time. Someone mentioned repairs always when they are leaving for vacation. Mine came during half time of the Super Bowl, but that is the exception not the rule.
I've had the middle of the night, building is on fire & people are jumping out the windows- it was; and lots of there is water pouring from my ceiling calls (bathtub overflow or roof leaks). The toilets back up sewage into the downstairs units every year on Superbowl Sunday it seems and tenants usually unexpectedly die on Sunday in the unit for some reason but actually you don't get a lot of after hours maintenance emergencies (other than I'm locked out of the house and I'm drunk calls) unless you are onsite in a large apartment community.
@Account Closed What I did, was let all calls go to voicemail. Even if you see the call come in, it gives you time to listen to the voicemail and decide how you are going to react, and when you would call the tenant back.
The only calls I ever got at 3am were drunk tenants who locked themselves out.
One thing we did to alleviate these types of calls, was to switch out the knob locks to knobs that did not lock. So, there would be a door now with no lock, and a deadbolt lock that could only be locked with a key.
So, a tenant couldn't lock themselves out, unless they actually locked the deadbolt with their key - and then lost the key after they'd left the building - OR - what would happen is - they'd lock their keys in their car.
Now, realize that I didn't feel any need to be available 24/7, so if I didn't feel like answering my phone at 3am, I'd just turn down the sound on my phone. One thing I told all my tenants is that they can always call 911.
That said, what I'd normally do is see a call coming in, let it go to voicemail, then listen to the voicemail and decide if I should/want to deal with it then or later.
As far as how often this happened? Very rarely. And I managed 25 units.
I'd say the average tenant will call you at most once per month. If you get a low-maintenance tenant, you'll see them every 6 months when you do an inspection, and rarely hear from them in-between.
As always, the key to less work as a landlord is to do really good tenant screening. Look for someone who has rented before, with good references, with good credit.
I have 18 doors in a class c area and rarely get calls after 10 pm. So, maybe 1 in 3 year time for those 18 doors. Like mentioned earlier, fix and replace between tenants. After several years of experience, it's beneficial to perform regular inspections and repair during regular business hours and head off those 3 AM calls.
lol I have one.. no issues as of yet. It gets pumped every 2 yr. I was mowing someones grass once though, their septic system had backed up, the mower sunk in the back and I was slinging poop off the tires. Yes true story