How to Handle Maintenance Issues in a Pandemic by Rob Chiang
Maintenance issues are all urgent now. Landlords’ cannot wait for the COVID vaccine to replace a burnt-out light bulb in the laundry room. A broken toilet can no longer be fixed when someone gets back from work at 5 p.m. It needs to be fixed NOW. Everyone is home. We rarely need to make an appointment since everyone is home all day every day. On the other hand, tenants are more willing to perform maintenance items themselves if we proved the materials. Some tenants would prefer that no third party enters their unit unless it is extremely urgent. Smoke detectors via Amazon.com have become a common item sent to a tenant’s front door. Carbon monoxide detector batteries, pest spray, and heater filters are just a few examples of items that tenants are willing to install/apply if we supple them with the essential materials.
On the flip side, we have even fielded requests to stop cleaning the parking lot because dust was blown around the carts and nearby windows left open. Normally, the parking lot would be empty, and tenants would come home to a clean parking lot. Normally, windows would be closed because people are at work in a physical office. Now they are complaining about their cleanup job. It is an unusual situation. Best way to deal with this? Sympathize with the tenants and talk a solution through with the tenant and vendor. We also started remodeling a vacant apartment during normal business hours and our tenant next door asked us to stop. Of course, we do not want to interrupt our tenant‘s important Zoom calls, but we must find a reasonable compromise. We asked our contractor to work as quickly as possible and then we discontinued with the apartment turnover work.
Case Studies
Case Study Example 1.) Early on in the pandemic, at one of our complexes, we noticed the water bill doubled from the previous month. We immediately took a survey and Maintenance is an essential business. Everyone needs a exterior physical inspection and there were no reported place to live. All tenants expect their included amenities to leaks. We heard a rumor that perhaps the City did an be fully functional. The main components of habitability estimate and would correct the mistake the following include but are not limited to: heat/AC, hot water, cold month. A couple of weeks later, we were contacted by a water, power, water, sewer, flooring, watertight roofing, tenant who stated she had a toilet constantly running. sealed doors/windows and openings. For example: If one Leaking toilets can be a horrible water waster. She of these critical components fails; a landlord should have reported the leak but would not let us enter until one the issue resolved or in progress within 24 hours. month later. She had a terrible fear from COVID-19 due to a senior citizen resident in the unit. This put us Take Precautions in a difficult situation. Should we use the keys fro entry Every tenant and vendor should wear a face mask, gloves with proper notice? Will the tenant pay for the utility overuse? Is secondary damage being caused by the leak? and use hand sanitizer before entry. Wearing foot booties After repeated requests to cooperate with us, the tenant is also recommended. This process has become quite finally committed to a firm entry date and the repairs wer standardized but is worth mentioning as a reminder. It is completed. Luckily, there was no secondary water damage. also a good idea to remind tenants to have an extra PPE Case Study Example 2.) California is burning again for supply for vendors entering the unit. We have also had how many years in a row now? Tenants cannot leave the some tenant s request that their unit be “sanitized” at our expense after a work order has been completed. When is a house because of COVID and can’t open the windows tenant being reasonable vs. paranoid? Hard to say, but just because of wildfires. Are we now forced to provide AC as a habitability issue? Well, the apartment didn’t come try and make the best decision for all parties involved. with AC so you don’t have to provide it. However it is Ask tenants to keep a distance while the vendor is onsite. good to keep tenants happy. There are reasonably priced, When tenants send a management company a work order through-the-wall units that run off 115-volt outlets. Some landlords have even purchased portable AC units they are usually pretty accommodating for the vendors. that they loan out to tenants on extreme heat days. Some It is best if the maintenance situation is described to the vendor and then they are given adequate air space to work. older properties combine multiple rooms on one 15amp circuit. One solution available to landlords is to first We also prefer if the tenant is home to open the door due check your subpanel. If your unit is occupied and if there to the sensitive nature of people nowadays. is space (empty breaker slots) on your subpanel, run a dedicated circuit directly below the subpanel. The tenant Tenants are ultra-sensitive in this pandemic. People will then be responsible to run their portable AC to the are home now more than ever. Your 40 unit apartment desired location. In a show of good faith, the landlord complex, (which previously did not allow business to be conducted on), now has 40 businesses running on multiple has provided a plug that they were not required to. With an occupied unit, it is best not to create any potential time zones. More cars are home, more utilities are being lead-based paint/asbestos dust in the apartment. In other used. More garbage piles up. Mountains and mountains words, if the subpanel is in the back bedroom closet and of Amazon boxes fill your garbage enclosure. You might the tenant wants their portable AC in the living room, have ordered an extra pickup and that is still not enough. Remind your tenants to chip in and break down the boxes. don’t agree to cut, patch and paint 40 feet of drywall www.rhaoregon.org
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RENTAL ALLIANCE UPDATE May 2021
