How fast do you respond to tenant calls?

[Jason Lee]

How fast do you respond to tenant calls? For example if the AC unit breaks do you tell them wait until morning? Do tenants expect us to fix stuff the same day/ in the middle of night?

[Richard F.]

Aloha,

It is important to have a conversation with prospective Tenants prior to, or during the Rental Agreement signing process, about how maintenance issues are addressed, including how you define reasonable response times for various types of issues. In part, response times will vary depending on whether you/your PM have employees on staff to address repairs, or if you are utilizing a variety of contractors.

As a home Owner, you cannot get same day service without paying "emergency" pricing. Tenant's expectations are often significantly different from what is reasonably feasible, and of course they do not expect to pay anything. They often feel entitled to have their issues, large or small, resolved within 24 hours, even when they call about a leak they were experiencing for several days, but waited until 4:45 PM on a Friday to call/email about it.

As a PM, I always try to "troubleshoot" the issue while speaking/emailing with the tenant to see if I can offer a simple solution they can try. If that is not practical, I question them further to get a better idea of what the most likely scenario actually is. In the past I have had in-house maintenance staff that could easily be re-prioritized to solve many issues very quickly, but using contractors slows the process down considerably. I always have the contractor contact the Tenant directly to simplify scheduling. The Tenants know they will need to have someone home to let the contractor in. They also know to contact me again if the contractor does not reach out to them within one business day to establish a schedule for the work. Having multiple contractors in each trade helps to ensure one of them can schedule in a timely manner, but sometimes it is just not possible, especially in busy "seasons" such as when there is heavy AC or Furnace use, or long rainy seasons, etc. The main thing is to know your local LL/Tenant laws, which may have a specific timetable for initiating and completing various type of repairs, and document your efforts to adhere to those timelines.

Sewer backups are the highest priority, with general water leaks next. These may well need to be addressed immediately, in the middle of the night, depending on circumstances. For AC or other appliance repair, techs typically work a particular area each day, so it can easily be several days before a repair can be attempted. If an appliance is deemed not worth repair, it can take another couple days to get a new appliance delivered. Inconvenient for tenants, yes. And a great reason for them to spend a few bucks on Renter's Insurance, which we also point out while reviewing documents prior to signing.

And of course, actual fire; major flooding; tree limb crashing onto/through the roof; extensive "blown" roof (large area of shingles ripped off by strong winds); vehicle crashing into the structure; notification of major crime, or a request for a "wellness check" by a family member or PD; and other "true" emergencies all can interrupt your beauty sleep.