Tenant Tips for Repair and Maintenance Issues

When it comes to repair and maintenance, tenants have to rely on their landlords to get the problem fixed, unless otherwise agreed upon. But what happens if the landlord is out of town or ignores your repeated requests? And do you have to contact him for every small maintenance issue you come across?

Checking Whether Repair may Be Needed

Since the property you live in is not yours, as a tenant, the only thing you can do is handle simple cleaning and maintenance tasks and leave the repairs to the landlord.

The good news is that, in some cases, you can quickly solve your problem without having to bring in the experts if the problem is a minor one:

• If your landlord is out of reach and has left you phone numbers to call for any issues regarding power, water, heating or gas, use them and call the professionals to diagnose the issue.
• Sometimes minor tasks such as unclogging the toilet or restarting the heater can quickly solve everything without intervention.
• If an appliance gets stuck or stops working, try to restart it or check whether it just needs some simple cleaning or maintenance.
• For a more complex issue, such as when you suspect the air filter to need replacing, it’s better to just contact your landlord and let him handle it. In this particular issue, for instance, the filter might not even require replacing, and your landlord may simply want to have all the air ducts cleaned instead.

Is Your Landlord Refusing to Help?

If your landlord neglects your requests for assistance, you have several methods of getting the problem solved even if you don’t have the right to get the repair work done by yourself. Here is what you can do:

• Provide your landlord with a written notice outlining the problem.
• Keep a log to note the time and date when specific issues occur and keep track of recurring ones.
• Continue sending letters to your landlord each time a new problem arises or the old one occurs again (and be sure to keep a copy of the letter for yourself).

In some cases, you may even be entitled to withhold rent until your landlord fixes the problem. This includes the event when there is a large hole in the roof, no water supply, faulty (and dangerous) electric wiring, as well as many others.

An important tip is to be sure not to try and repair any electric units or plumbing fixtures yourself. If something goes wrong, your landlord may quickly conclude that you’ve damaged the fixture yourself and void all your efforts, while also taking a hefty sum from your security deposit.

Observing these guidelines may be seen by some as “the pain” of not owning your own home, but the bottom line is that, instead of having to do all the repair work yourself, your landlord will be the one with the responsibility of getting everything fixed.