Emergency property management can be chaotic. The urgent nature of the situation leaves no room for error. A single mistake can be costly in more ways than one. Even seasoned landlords can’t always oversee after-hours emergencies well. That’s why discerning real estate investors use property managers to handle emergency maintenance in rentals to ensure everything goes smoothly.
If you’re unsure whether to sign a management agreement, consider the vital roles a competent property management team plays in these areas so you can deliver 24/7 rental property maintenance to tenants.
Some emergencies are more destructive than others. However, they all have the potential to negatively impact your finances when not urgently addressed.
Handling urgent repairs is racing against time — the sooner you repair the issue, the lesser the loss. For example, a roof leak during a downpour can lead to severe interior water damage when neglected. Water doesn’t mix with many building materials and electric appliances. Damp areas are breeding grounds for mold growth. Expenses can add up quickly, and your restoration cost will skyrocket before you know it.
Moreover, your tenants may do more than not renew their leases to penalize you for being nonresponsive to emergency repair calls. Arizona is not a rent strike state, meaning tenants can’t withhold rent when they feel their landlords violate the lease for any reason. However, renters may take matters into their own hands after sending a 10-day notice to repair something, including reimbursing themselves for any DIY repairs by deducting their repair costs from rent.
Allowing emergencies to spiral can negatively affect your bottom line since you can’t control how renters approach home projects and choose contractors. Even worse, disgruntled renters may sue and seek compensation for their emotional distress and annoyance.
Property managers ensure rapid response for rental property emergencies. They treat pressing matters accordingly to prevent repairs from escalating and minimize losses. Companies like Mark Brower Properties have 24/7 live phone availability for maintenance, so property managers can promptly acknowledge and address tenant needs. Property management companies have a Rolodex of reliable contacts that can deploy a well-equipped crew to manage the situation on speed dial.
Granted, you can build a trusted vendor network for maintenance, but establishing long-term relationships with dependable local contractors takes time. Property managers get to screen more vendors and see which ones provide satisfactory service at short notice because they encounter emergencies more frequently than self-managing landlords.
Using a property manager to offer tenant emergency services also allows you to prevent undue safety incidents. Prioritizing tenant safety can reduce the need to file future liability claims and keep your insurance rate low.
Many landlords think about home upkeep seasonally. Conversely, property management companies live and breathe rental maintenance daily. Their staff undergoes regular refresher training to assess situations properly, remember property management emergency protocols and execute them seamlessly when necessary.
Property managers know their priorities and don’t panic under pressure. They follow the appropriate protocol to advise tenants what to do until help arrives and prevent dire situations — like carbon monoxide leakage — from worsening.
Property management professionals are agile thinkers. They can assess a situation and know what constitutes an emergency when responding to maintenance requests. Implied warranty of habitability is a hallmark of the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant law, so any situation rendering rental units unfit to live in is an emergency — such as no air conditioning during the extremely hot Arizona summer months of June, July and August.
The line between ordinary and emergency maintenance requests is occasionally thin. Property managers have more experience dealing with unusual situations and may access relevant legal advice more quickly, so they make better judgment calls than individual landlords.
Furthermore, it’s not always possible to permanently solve an emergency maintenance request. Some issues simply require more resources and planning. Mitigating losses by applying quick-relief remedies is a tried-and-true strategy to temporarily improve a problem rental’s habitability.
For instance, providing affected tenants with portable AC units can mitigate the impact of broken HVAC equipment and give you more time to consider a long-term solution.
Similarly, walking tenants through how to find their master shut-off valve and cut their water supply can alleviate flood damage. Mark Brower Properties tags the emergency shut-off valves of the units it manages with visible, durable 3D-printed labels to help tenants spot them easily during stressful situations.
Another effective tactic is to empower tenants to mitigate losses through self-help. After all, emergency mitigation rests on the shoulders of both tenants and property owners or managers.
In many cases, there’s something renters can do to reduce the impact of emergencies on their quality of life and finances. Experienced property managers remind tenants to store food items in a cooler when their refrigerator breaks, potentially saving them hundreds of dollars worth of groceries. Advising renters to stop using plumbing when the drain lines aren’t working can prevent flooding and safeguard their belongings from water damage. Otherwise, the tenants may share the blame for the damage.
A landlord or property manager shouldn’t enter rented premises outside regular business hours. If an issue isn’t an emergency and can wait, a tenant must receive at least a two-day notice before anyone can investigate the problem and control rental property damage.
Property managers value prevention over cure. They maintain rentals proactively, allowing them to identify and address wear and tear early. Worn-out structural components can render a house more susceptible to weather-related damage.
Landlords naturally want to put off big-ticket expenses — such as AC upgrades and roof replacements — and often hope their aging house components can last longer when they’re on the fritz. Proactive maintenance helps delay the inevitable with routine inspections and timely repairs. These measures can add more years to items like air conditioning systems, whose useful life in Arizona is 15 years, and roofs, buying you more time to do a cost-benefit analysis and make an informed decision.
Experienced property managers also urge rental owners to replace water heaters older than 10 years. Old heaters are highly prone to malfunction, increasing the likelihood of emergencies.
Unchecked property deterioration may make you liable for neglect and jeopardize your insurance claim when you file. An insurance adjuster may think your case has no merit because you didn’t do your part to mitigate the damage.
For instance, homeowners’ insurance policies cover mold growth only when it directly results from an external factor you can’t meaningfully avert. A towering yard tree falling on a roof section amid a hurricane is a classic example.
This incident would expose the interior of your rentals to water, setting the stage for mold growth. You can’t control a tree’s resistance to wind damage. However, you can make it less vulnerable to weather by using an arborist to remove deadwood and prune structurally unsound branches ahead of a storm. Putting off tree care may backfire, as an insurance adjuster may use it against you.
A property manager’s services during emergency maintenance incidents are invaluable. If you own rentals in the Phoenix metropolitan area, entrust your property management needs to Mark Brower Properties to keep your tenants happy, stay on the good side of regulators and ensure your maintenance budget remains below 10% of your annual revenue for newer units and under 15%-20% for older properties.
Reach out today to learn everything you’ll gain when you sign a management agreement with us!
