10 Tips To Handle Your Property Maintenance Like A Pro

One of the most stressful aspects of keeping a property in its optimum condition is handling the maintenance of your property, and if you are a landlord, then the property maintenance requests can be quite a stressful task to handle as well. If you are constantly making amends around the house then this article is just for you.

Here are the top 10 effective tips to handle your property maintenance with ease.

1. Set up a slush fund for property maintenance: Always have a predesignated slush fund just for property maintenance especially if your property is old and has a lot of old appliances or structural issues. This will take a load off of your mind and will always have you better prepared.
2. Always keep a list of good contractors handy: Keeping in touch with good contractors can save you a lot of time especially if you have more than one property in different areas. Whether you prefer a handyman who can do everything or a licensed expert, always have a contractor list handy for unforeseen emergencies.
3. Always perform an initial walkthrough and establish a baseline: If you are a landlord renting your property out, then make it a practice to always perform an initial walkthrough of the property with your tenant. This will not only help you manage a documented checklist of everything that is or isn’t in its best condition but also will give you the opportunity to explain to the new tenant how you handle the maintenance requests. Explain to them everything from Triage to 24 hours’ notice, emergencies to tenant and landlord responsibilities, etc.
4. Every single repair should be recorded and documented: This sounds like a time-consuming and tedious process, but you will thank yourself when it’s time to pay the taxes. Many of the expenses involved in maintaining your property and your rental properties may be written off by the business but reaping the tax benefits for you would require proper documentation of each of those expenses.
   
   
5. Be diligent with your own preventive maintenance: By performing regular preventive maintenance, you can nip a lot of issues in the bud even before they become a prominent issue, thereby saving a lot of time, money and mainly headache.
6. Develop a clear and detailed lease of rent: If you are a landlord and handle tenant property maintenance requests that your rent lease is your best and most protective friend. It can help you from making repairs that are clearly caused by tenant negligence. This is also where your initial walkthrough will come in handy in clearly demarking the renter and landlord responsibilities.
7. Always ensure clear communication: All property maintenance will not be easy and will depend on several factors. You may need to seek out a specialist, gather quotes or wait for favorable weather conditions for outdoor repairs. Having open and clear communication with the contractors, renters, and everyone else who is involved will help you keep away misunderstandings and frustrations in the future.
8. Keep it simple: Keep all your contributions to the décor and ambiance, be it landscaping the outdoors to install the blinds, simple which will, in turn, make for easier maintenance to keep up with.
9. Invest in good quality fixtures and automatic features: Invest in good quality long life fixtures and automatic features to save yourself some time and energy from replacing them frequently.
10. Know when the experts need to be called: Do not attempt to fix everything of your own. Some types of property maintenance might require expert assistance and might get worse without it. Also, hiring a helping hand will ensure proper maintenance of your work and make it fully stress-free.

In the long run you are good to save a lot of money and energy by having a maintenance checklist handy and adhering to it. Conducting proper property maintenance will help you stay on top of it and avoid unexpected and unwelcome expenses in the future.