On the Level

Maintain Your Communications

by Terry Meany

It wasn’t a cold and stormy night, but it was a cold and dark one. A Friday night, to be exact, one past December, when one of our tenants called and said the furnace was not working. “O.K.,” I said, “when did it go off?” “Oh,” she replied through chattering teeth, “it stopped Wednesday.” Exasperated, I replied, “And there’s a reason you waited until now—two days later, at 6:30 in the evening, after all the repair guys have gone home—to call us?”

We lived one block from the rental property and had an answering machine. Four intelligent adults, two recent Harvard grads, shared this cozy, two-story, 1914-vintage house, which had once been our personal residence. Somehow, among the four of them, they could not manage to call in and report a kaput furnace. It was an old unit, oil converted to gas, a tired workhorse, but still kicking along when a valve gave out. Three trips later over the course of the weekend—once the service personnel decided to actually talk with each other and figure out what part was needed—everyone was warm again. Could we have prevented this, as well as the weekend surcharges? Probably not, given that routine maintenance would not have detected a dying valve, but the tenants could have made life a lot easier had they simply contacted us in a timely manner.

Clear, ongoing communication and maintenance logs will save your tenants and you unnecessary grief and recriminations. Here are some suggestions how:

Make it easy for your tenants to report problems to you and encourage them to do so, even if the problems are not in their individual units but are in a common area. Email is the ideal medium for non-emergency contacts and recordings, for it provides a dated record for both parties and allows a late-hour response. Always keep tenants apprised of progress and delays. Most of us are pretty forgiving, as long as we are informed and not ignored.
Be sure your tenants have a 24-hour emergency number, so they can report major problems such as plumbing and roof leaks, vandalized entry doors or electrical defects. Minor but annoying repairs should be done within 48 hours unless otherwise negotiated with the tenant.
Test shut-off valves for all water pipes once a year and lubricate the threads. Show your tenants where they are located—you would be surprised how many do not know how to turn off the water supply to a toilet. If a fixture does not have its own shutoff, schedule to install one. A tenant should also know how to shut off an electrical current at a fuse box or circuit breaker. Do not assume that tenants know all this. Clearly mark all the circuits and show them where they are located. Note that all new roommates should be given the same orientation by you and not by the primary renter.
Print a maintenance checklist for each tenant for nonemergency items and concerns. This can alert you to problems in the making, such as leaky faucets or hard-to-operate door locks. The list can be turned in with the rent check or dropped off with the building manager.
Keep a written log of all tenant reports, the maintenance performed and the time frame. This is easy enough with a spreadsheet or even an MS Word document. In the event of a tenant dispute over lack of or delays in maintenance, this can back up your claims to the contrary. For extra measure, leave a work completion form for the tenant to sign and return to you. A master document can show patterns for the entire property and aid in alternative maintenance approaches. For instance, if you find yourself cleaning and repainting mildewed bathroom ceilings every three years, you might want to invest in quality exhaust fans.
Speaking of painting—stop me if you have heard this before—I am not an advocate for tenants doing their own painting. You never know if it will be done properly or neatly. There is also the issue of compensation, one that can come back to haunt you if it is a large painting job. Also, if a tenant were to fall while painting over a stairwell, not only could the bodily damage be severe, but you could be tied into the aftermath since you authorized the painting.

You do not need to automatically repaint an apartment every time someone new moves in, but a painting schedule should be established for each unit. In fact, excessive painting brings its own problems, such as sticky windows and doors, and the possibility of film buildup that will obscure details in the wood and decorative plaster. Better to use decent quality paint with a washable sheen so walls and woodwork can be washed as needed instead of repainted.

Some owners actually go overboard in their repairs, although you would never believe this from listening to the rants, justified and otherwise, from disgruntled tenants. I knew an owner of a 1920s brick who had a high-end plastering company come in to repair an approximately 3’x4’ section of a living room ceiling. The job was beautiful, absolutely perfect. The rest of the ceiling was full of the usual cracks and thirty coats of paint that were typical in this mid-range building, but this repair was gorgeous. Anyone else would have cut in, taped and skimmed over a section of drywall at a fraction of the cost and with a very similar visual result. This was wasted money and misplaced artistry.

Fix It Up During Vacancies
The last thing you want to consider when faced with vacancies and depressed rents is plowing money into an empty unit, but this is the ideal time to do so. Without any tenants or furniture to work around, you can do a thorough job and do it faster.

Is that 1950s kitchen getting harder and harder to clean? Take your measurements to Home Depot and see what new cabinets and countertops will cost. Window ropes broken? Replace them with new cotton/poly ropes that will last for years. Bathroom sink chipped and stained? Look for one at Home Depot while you are scoping out the kitchen department. Any rent increases for this newly spiffed-up unit will alleviate some of the pain from your upfront expenses, and you end up with a more rentable unit
during tight markets.

Carefully consider your upgrades. Removing old but intact wallpaper will not only be messy but lead to more wall repairs than you can imagine. Instead, seal it with flat oil paint or primer and paint over it with latex, cutting out and patching only torn or damaged sections. There often is not a good reason to pull up old linoleum if it is tight and unbroken. A good flooring contractor can show you options for covering right over it. Repair only the most blatant wall and ceiling cracks. Roll your paint on with a deep nap roller that will add some texture and cover more than a few sins.

Do install extra phone jacks and electrical receptacles, including ground-fault circuit interrupters—GFCI—they protect receptacles in bathrooms and kitchens. Check that all other receptacles and light switches are tight and secure inside their boxes. Replace any that are broken.

If your budget can handle it, upgrade the kitchen and bathroom; these are the important rooms for most people. They do not have to be high-end showcase versions from Sunset Magazine, just bright and cleanable with good lighting. No matter what color scheme you choose in the kitchen, install a stainless steel sink. Unlike porcelain sinks, the finish will not wear off, and you can always polish it. If you decide to replace an old steel tub, consider an acrylic shower/tub unit. These eliminate wall tile and greatly cut down on maintenance and leaks. Note that in almost all cases you will not be able to install a one-piece unit but rather a two-piece one, consisting of a tub and separate tub surround. They are very slick and sure beat grouting and sealing mildewed tile every few years.

I’ll take slick any day.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the SFAA or the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. Terry Meany is a former contractor and landlord. He is now a full-time writer and author of Working Windows: A Guide to the Repair and Restoration of Wood Windows published by Lyons Press. He’s cost conscious, but not cheap, and knows deferred maintenance always costs more in the end. He can be reached at tfmeany@msn.com. Copyright © 2004.