This is part 2 of our 4-part blog on rental property maintenance in Tampa, Florida. In part 1, we discussed the importance of annual inspections. Today we are talking about maintenance during a tenancy and in later blogs we’ll cover what not to do as well as the best ways to have your tenants report maintenance issues to you.
It is important to categorize the property maintenance requests that come in during a tenancy.
This will help you respond appropriately. Each type of maintenance issue really requires a different response, and we are going to highlight the three main types of maintenance.
Emergency Maintenance
Emergencies are things like a water leak that is flooding the house or a gas leak or an electrical problem. An emergency might also be when a door or a window cannot be secured and the tenant cannot lock it properly. That’s a safety issue. If it happens to be winter and the heat is not working, the Florida landlord – tenant act defines that as an emergency. Emergencies must be responded to immediately, on a 24-hour, 7-days a week schedule. Your tenant should have an emergency number to call any time there is an emergency that requires an immediate response.
Urgent Maintenance
The landlord tenant act in Florida does not specifically address urgent maintenance concerns, but we consider air conditioning problems urgent, particularly when it’s hot outside. This is considered normal maintenance legally, but if it is 95 degrees outside and about 105 degrees inside and a tenant’s air conditioning stops working on a Friday at 7:00 p.m., no tenant is going to think it’s reasonable to wait until Monday to get that fixed. Air conditioning repairs are urgent and a vendor should be dispatched 7-days a week to get the air conditioning working again.
Routine Maintenance
Routine maintenance issues are every day repairs that can be handled during business hours, which is typically Monday through Friday, 9:00 – 5:00. An example of a routine maintenance issue might be a dishwasher that is not working. It’s not urgent and it’s not an emergency and you can handle it during your vendor’s normal business hours.
If you have any questions about how to classify different maintenance issues or you’d like to discuss how to manage the maintenance of your rental property, contact us or give us a call at (813) 875-7474.