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Lakewood Rental Property Maintenance: How to Routinely Handle as a Colorado Landlord

Lakewood Rental Property Maintenance: How to Routinely Handle as a Colorado Landlord - Article Banner

Rental property maintenance requires responsiveness and a reliable list of licensed and insured vendors and contractors who can do good work for affordable prices. You’ll need to respond to routine repair requests as well as unexpected emergencies.

Most landlords expect that they’ll need to spend time and money protecting the condition of their investment and responding to the requests of their tenants. Today, we want to tell you how you can make the process more efficient.

Put an Emergency Maintenance Plan in Place

When there’s an emergency at your Lakewood rental property, you need to know right away.

Your tenants need to have your emergency contact number or the contact information for the Lakewood property management company that’s caring for your home. If there’s a flood in the home or a tree falls down through a window, immediate action is needed, and your tenants need to know how to get in touch with you.

Put an emergency plan in writing and share it with your residents before they move in. Make sure you help them understand the definition of an emergency. You don’t want to be called in the middle of the night when the garbage disposal clogs, but you do want a late night phone call if the heat goes out in the middle of winter.

Document all Routine Repair Requests

While emergencies certainly require a phone call and a sense of urgency, routine maintenance requests are better made in writing. You’ll still want to respond quickly, but for a routine request that doesn’t jeopardize your residents or your property, it’s better to have a documented paper trail of the request that was made and the work that was done. When you have something in writing, you can track the entire process and make notes about costs, timeframes, and follow up.

Ask your tenants to request non-emergency repairs through text message or email. If you’re working with a property management company, they should have an online platform where tenants can make maintenance requests electronically and even upload pictures of the problem.

Choosing Vendors for Your Lakewood Rental Property

You don’t want to find yourself looking for a plumber on Christmas Eve because there’s a leak that’s threatening your rental property. Establish some relationships with good vendors before you need their help. It’s important that you work with licensed and insured professionals. It might cost a bit more to get licensed work done at your property, but you’ll be saving yourself from a lot of risk and liability. If you hire someone you don’t know based on an ad you saw online, and that worker falls off a ladder while painting your house, you could be responsible for his medical bills and additional damages if he’s not insured. Don’t risk it. Work with professionals only.

Professional Property ManagerHaving a professional Lakewood property management company handle the routine and emergency maintenance at your rental property can usually save you money and provide some extra peace of mind. We have great relationships with maintenance professionals, we take a preventative approach to maintenance, and we always work hard to respond to tenants when they need us. To learn more, contact our team at Assured Management.

Assured Management, Lakewood property management experts serving residential landlords in West Denver and the surrounding areas, including Littleton, Golden, Wheat Ridge, Arvada, and more.

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