- Tenants
- Process
When the repair clock starts: the tenant’s notice
Most state repair deadlines count from the tenant’s notice. What counts as notice in 12 states, who it goes to, and what to log when a request arrives.
· 5 min read
Tenant maintenance requests
Tenants who know what happens next
Posts for property managers on taking maintenance requests, keeping tenants posted, repair timelines by state and the safety calls that can’t wait. Start with the request process guide and the request form.
Start here
Start with these two Then read the posts
- The tenant maintenance request process, from first text to closedHow to take a tenant maintenance request: channels, intake fields, triage, response targets by priority, entry notice, follow-up and closing the loop.
- Tenant maintenance request formThe fields to ask on each maintenance request, with the emergency line on top, entry permission and photos, ready for a portal, web form or move-in packet.
Posts
Every post on this topic
- Tenants
- Process
Mold after a leak in a rental: the first 48 hours decide the bill
Why the first 24 to 48 hours after a leak decide whether a rental gets mold, what to throw away, when to call a pro and what to log on the work order.
· 5 min read
- Tenants
- After hours
No hot water in a rental: the water heater call, start to finish
What to ask when a tenant reports no hot water, when a water heater call is a safety call, and the temperature setting the Department of Energy suggests.
· 3 min read
- After hours
- Tenants
AC not cooling in a rental: handling heat calls
What to ask when a tenant says the AC isn’t cooling, the heat illness signs that make it a 911 call, and the states that name cooling in their laws.
· 5 min read
- Tenants
- Owners
Appliance repairs in a rental: who fixes what, and how fast
Who repairs a broken fridge, range, washer or dryer in a rental, what state law says about appliances you supply, and the safety checks at each repair.
· 5 min read
- Tenants
- Process
Tenant maintenance communication: the texts that cut follow‑up calls
Six short texts to send tenants at each step of a repair, with timing rules and wording, so fewer of them call back to ask what is happening.
· 7 min read
- Process
- Vendors
- Tenants
How to confirm a repair is done before you close the work order
How to check a repair really happened before you close the work order: what to ask the vendor, one text to the tenant and proof to ask for by repair type.
· 7 min read
- Tenants
- Process
Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in rentals: placement, testing and replacement
Where smoke and CO alarms go in a rental, how often to test them and when to replace them, from NFPA and CPSC guidance, plus the chirping alarm call.
· 5 min read
- After hours
- Tenants
A tenant smells gas: what to tell them, and what happens next
The script for a gas smell call, from gas utility and federal pipeline safety guidance: get out, no sparks, call from outside, then what the manager does.
· 5 min read
- After hours
- Tenants
Frozen pipes in rentals: prevention before a cold snap, and the call when one bursts
What to tell tenants before a hard freeze, which pipes freeze first and what to do in the first hour after a burst, from Red Cross, DOE and EPA guidance.
· 5 min read
- Vendors
- Tenants
Lead paint rules for repairs in older rentals
What the EPA’s disclosure rule and its Renovation, Repair and Painting rule mean for repairs and turnovers in pre-1978 rentals, and what to ask vendors.
· 5 min read
- After hours
- Tenants
“Is this an emergency, or can it wait until morning?”
What counts as a maintenance emergency
A written list of emergency, urgent and routine requests, and what happens next for each.
· 6 min read
- Vendors
- Tenants
“The vendor goes quiet and nobody tells me.”
Why vendors don’t answer. What helps
The first text, the nudge schedule and the backup vendor that get replies.
· 5 min read
Not an emergency service. For a fire, a gas leak or anyone in danger, call 911 or the gas utility.
Also on this topic
Guides, templates and terms that go with it
- GuideMake-ready and turnover: getting a unit rent-ready between tenants
- GuideWriting an after-hours maintenance policy
- GuideThe work order process, from request to close
- TemplateAfter-hours call script
- TemplateMake-ready checklist
- TemplateEmergency definitions
- TemplateTenant text messages
- GlossaryRepair and deduct
- GlossaryResponse time vs resolution time
- GlossaryLead-safe certified firm (RRP)
- GlossaryMaintenance request
- GlossaryHabitability
- GlossaryNotice of entry
- GlossaryMake-ready
- GlossaryTenant chargeback
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