Lower your Liabilities with Proactive Maintenance Planning

As a landlord, planning ways on how to reduce your liability and preventing any accidents and injuries to your tenants are necessary. You need to learn how to lower your liabilities with Proactive Maintenance Planning. Here’s how.

Think Proactive

The best solution for every landlord is to have a proactive approach to property maintenance.  Costly maintenance repairs can be lessened and legal concerns will not be a problem.  The law is strict when it comes to landlords who ignore any safety and health hazard to their rental properties. Proactive maintenance promotes tenant retention as well.  A satisfied tenant will most likely stay and keep renewing their leases if they know their landlord is always on top of doing property maintenance.

Always remember that the more expenses you have, the less profit you will gain. Having a proactive property maintenance approach improves your income, attracts more tenants, and your rental revenues will go up. 

Routine inspection

You can start with a Proactive Maintenance approach by doing a routine inspection. This way, you can check the condition of the property in and out. Find out any small damages that can potentially be a bigger problem later on. It is better to spend on a $20 door stopper to prevent the door from making damage to your wall than ignore it and later on spend more on patching up a cracked wall.

If there are any alarming issues that need to be addressed after the inspection, talk with your property manager to plan the needed repairs. Look for any repairs that are mandatory as per the law and get it prioritized.

Well-planned proactive maintenance helps you achieve your ultimate goal of reducing expenses and liabilities. It also helps you to execute property maintenance properly. A professional inspector provides you with a comprehensive report about the condition of your property after their inspection. This report includes the issues you need to work on.

Ensuring that you perform all the recommended repairs is very crucial as it may cause you a problem if you leave it as is. It is always better to fix minor damages to prevent expensive repair costs. It also reduces the chances of causing any accidents or injuries to your tenants or anyone visiting your property.

Important items you need to maintain inside your property:

#1 Electrical

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#2 Flooring 

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#3 Drain line for water heaters

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#4 Air Conditioning filters

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#5 Water supply in the bathroom and kitchen

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#6 Smoke Alarms

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#7 Windows and window locks

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#8 Mold issues

Exterior Maintenance is important too. Any person passing by your property may get injured if you have a trip hazard on your sidewalk. Some items to look out for are:

• Correct lighting around your property is very important. Replace light bulbs that are not working. To be energy and cost-efficient, use LED lights. They consume lower energy and you can use them for at least 10-15 years.
• Avoid trip hazards. Keep bushes and trees well-trimmed. Repair any cracks on your sidewalk. Remove any dangerous potholes or rocks. Check for any dangerous tree roots and remove them as this is another trip hazard. Trim branches away from your roof.
• Remove any safety hazards like hanging electrical wires, falling gutters or roof shingles
• Replace any unsafe fences, sheds or structures that can potentially cause injury

Performing maintenance on some of these items are simple and budget-friendly. It is better to fix them while they have not caused any injuries or bigger damages.  All these items can help reduce your liabilities and prevent you from any costly legal issues.