When your toilet won’t stop running, the kitchen light burns out, or garbage disposal gets stuck, what should you do? As a renter, you have the benefit of submitting requests for repairs and maintenance work. So what happens when you submit a maintenance request?
Submit All Maintenance Requests in the Tenant Portal
While you can always call The Realty Medics office (407-274-9875), you’ll still need to report property issues through your tenant portal. The tenant portal allows us to document your request, track it, and ensure the right actions are taken in a timely fashion.
When you submit a request, our maintenance team reviews it to determine who has the responsibility to fix the problem. If we need to schedule repairs with our team, that all happens in your tenant portal. Plus, you can check back in to track the latest developments.
Note: any requests deemed to be a frivolous request (like asking for the owner to build a fence) will be canceled with explanation.
For after hours emergencies: Tenants should call the 24/7 maintenance emergency line (407-584-7186) for after hours emergencies. Some examples of emergencies would be a water leak, lack of running water, septic back up, or a ceiling / roof leak.
Tenant Responsibility for Repair
Maintenance requests for changing a light bulb or replacing a flapper valve in the toilet are tasks that are the tenant’s responsibility per their lease. If the maintenance team finds a maintenance request could be resolved by the tenant troubleshooting the issue, they can walk the tenant through the process, if necessary. Don’t worry though- repairs that are the tenant’s responsibility are simple and usually completed in a few minutes.
For example, most tenants may not realize they can fix a stuck garbage disposal using an Allen wrench or that there is a reset button underneath the disposal. It could even be something as simple as flipping a breaker switch.
Some tenants hesitate to troubleshoot a problem themselves. But having our maintenance coordinator talk them through a repair over the phone or on Facetime is also the fastest and most efficient solution. This can solve the problem immediately instead of a tenant having to wait hours or days for the scheduled visit.
Added bonus: through our Maintenance Troubleshooting YouTube Playlist, tenants can find tutorial videos that walk through many of these common tenant repair jobs. So if you’re one of those people who hates phone calls, this could be the better option.
Owner Responsibility Repairs
If the maintenance team determines the repair is required and is the owner’s responsibility, they begin the repair process. If a professional needs to complete the job, the property manager must reach out to the owner to get permission to spend their money.
Vendor Scheduling after Owner Approval
Once The Realty Medics has the owner’s approval, the maintenance coordinator will contact the vendor. The vendor will reach out to the tenant to schedule time for the repair when they will be home. This prevents the liability of a vendor being inside a tenant’s home without them present.
The vendor will take before and after photos of the repair, which documents the repair was completed correctly. From there, the owner will be billed for the repair and the work order will be closed out. Again, you can monitor all of this in your tenant portal.
Owner Rights to Alternate Vendors
Owners do have the option of using their own vendor if the repair is not an immediate emergency. They can shop around, but it may take a few days before they can get someone in to do the repair.
As a note: this also includes air conditioning. Having heat is a national requirement, but not air conditioning. The owner has the right to shop around before shelling out $8k+ on a replacement.
That said, The Realty Medics will not allow a tenant to go without air conditioning for long. Unfortunately, that still means a tenant can and often will be without AC for a few days, even in the summer heat in the Orlando heat.
Note: situations may arise where the owner is not responding to our team, or addressing the issue appropriately. In those circumstances The Realty Medics will dispatch a vendor to resolve the issue.
Tenant Negligence
There is one caveat to the owner picking up the bill for the professional repair visit. An owner should not pay for something the tenant clearly broke, or failed to report in a timely manner.
If the repair was caused by tenant negligence (like letting a sink run and causing water damage), the tenant picks up the bill. If you’re in the process of moving out, you could end up losing some or all of your security deposit.
Treating the property with respect and submitting timely maintenance requests will negate many of these negligence issues.
If you have questions about repair responsibilities or how to fix something yourself, call our office at 321-947-7653 or check out our Tenant Support Center on our website.
