Poor property maintenance is a deal breaker for over half of all tenants when it comes to renting a property, LSL’s 2017 annual survey has revealed. The report found that 37 per cent of those surveyed valued a good relationship with their agent above a property’s proximity to their workplace or the state of the neighborhood. [1]
This shows letting agents how important it is to have an effective maintenance and repairs strategy in place when managing a property.
Here are five simple ways to streamline your repairs process and boost your maintenance success:
Educate tenants about their own responsibilities
Many tenants aren’t aware that smaller maintenance issues, like cleaning and preventing mold and mildew are actually their responsibility, not the landlord’s. Providing clear details of what maintenance jobs around the property the tenant is expected to take care of (cleaning, changing lightbulbs, garden maintenance etc.) will minimise unnecessary phone calls. Additionally, providing clarity over these details should improve relations with the tenants.
Provide self-guidance
Provide self-guidance for minor concerns to give tenants a helping hand in maintaining their own responsibilities. Enabling tenants to resolve their responsibilities with targeted picture-led guidance should reduce issues around the property. It should also prevent smaller, easily manageable maintenance tasks from mushrooming into issues that require outside maintenance.
Repairs and maintenance software provides step-by-step picture-led guides to walk tenants through simple procedures (like accessing fuse boxes, cleaning mould and other smaller maintenance issues) and ensures that they’re able to fulfil their side of the maintenance responsibilities.
Ask tenants for photographs or video footage of the repairs issue
Being able to build up a clear picture of the problem from the outset allows the concern to be categorised swiftly and will allow letting agents to appoint the appropriate contractor more quickly. Being provided with accurate pictorial information will also aid the contractor in being able to access and resolve the issue more efficiently.
Timestamp all communications
Tenant legislation is currently at an all-time high, so agents need to protect themselves by making sure they have a written record of all communications. Timestamping all communications provides a thorough audit trail, keeping the agent legally compliant and ensuring protection in case of any issue.
Provide a 24/7 service
In today’s open all hours economy, agents must be accessible around the clock, both on and offline. One of the major problems with repairs is that, if left unchecked, they tend to escalate, so it’s imperative that agents implement an effective reporting strategy.
Repairs and maintenance software allows tenants to report issues online at any time of the day and night and receive an automatic response. In the case of smaller concerns, they can be guided through the resolution process; for larger issues, landlords can be notified immediately and contractors appointed at the click of a button.
How can repairs and maintenance software help?
The right software package can perform all of the tasks listed above. From guiding tenants from the initial reporting stage through to resolution; to providing landlords and contractors with pictorial evidence; as well as keeping agents compliant through comprehensive time and datestamping.
As managing multiple properties in the face of increased expectation and legislation gets harder, repairs and maintenance software can make things easier.
You might like to download our Property Management Software Buyer's Guide, which explores a number of property management software systems in greater detail. Click the link below to do so.
[1] LSL Tenant Survey 2017
BLOG DISCLAIMER
This article is intended for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. If you have any questions related to issues in this article, we strongly advise contacting a legal professional.
These blog posts are the work of Fixflo and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. In summary, you are welcome to re-publish any of these blog posts but are asked to attribute Fixflo with an appropriate link to www.fixflo.com. Access to this blog is allowed only subject to the acceptance of these terms.