Property Maintenance During COVID-19: A Detailed Guide
As people quarantine in their homes, maintaining properties might seem like an unnecessary risk for everyone involved. Are you wondering what you can do for property maintenance? If you’re a property manager that owns one or several properties during this pandemic, we have the answers for you.
No matter what the situation, you’ll still want to ensure that your tenants are enjoying a habitable property according to your state and local laws.
Let’s go over how to handle property maintenance during the threat of COVID-19. You’ll learn what you can do to stay safe and maintain your properties at the same time.
Communicate Effectively
You’re probably going to make any changes during this uncertain time. You need to make sure you’re communicating them effectively to your tenants and employees. This means you should:
- Post updated cleaning policies in common areas
- Email or mail your cleaning policies to tenants
- Provide up-to-date contact information for tenants with questions
You should also consider an automatic texting service that tenants can opt-in to if you’d like to send them updates and information on the fly. For better or worse, the CDC is constantly updating people about the changing conditions of this disease.
It’s expected that your guidelines will change just as quickly. It’s important that you have measures in place to easily communicate your changing maintenance and cleaning policies.
Lastly, if you find that a maintenance request is non-essential, you probably will have an unhappy tenant that doesn’t understand why you’re not addressing their request. Respond politely and professionally and inform them that their request will be processed as soon as you learn more about the state of the virus.
You can also email them the CDC and local government guidelines you’ve been following. This way, they understand where your information is coming from. Remind them that you take the health of your employees and tenants seriously.
Follow CDC Cleaning Guidelines
Next, you’ll want to make sure you’re following the CDC’s recommended guidelines for cleaning and disinfection of community facilities. At this point, it’s expected for amenities such as swimming pools and playgrounds to be closed down due to the risk of close-contact infection.
However, people in your building still need to be able to access areas such as staircases, elevators, and mailboxes.
For hard and nonporous surfaces that are dirty, it’s recommended that they’re cleaned with a detergent or soap and water before they’re disinfected.
Once those surfaces are clean and dry, most EPA-registered disinfectants are effective. Your employees can also use a diluted bleach solution.
Essential Property Maintenance
Next, when it comes to property maintenance, you’ll need to determine what is essential versus what is non-essential. For instance, you’ll still need to address emergency maintenance as soon as you can and put aside maintenance that only makes aesthetic changes.
You’ll need to follow your state and local laws about what constitutes essential maintenance. Essential maintenance provides tenants with a safe and livable home. It can include:
- Waterproofing and weather protection
- Working plumbing facilities
- Hot and cold water
- Working electrical wiring
- Fire hazard safety
- Working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
- Working locks
- Clean conditions
- Well-maintained structure
However, you might be wondering how you can keep maintenance workers safe in the event of essential property maintenance.
Social Distancing During Repairs
Before your employee enters the tenant’s home, you’ll need to communicate with them about the measures you have in place. This ensures everyone is safe and following social distancing guidelines.
This can either be through an automated email, a quick call, or a text that explains the guidelines that you’re following. Here are a few measures you can consider instituting:
- Ask tenants to keep at least six feet away from employees while they work
- Ask if tenants are willing to stay in another room during the work
- Provide gloves, face coverings, and booties for workers
You’ll also want to see if it’s possible for your workers to remove their shoes before working. However, you’ll still want to follow OSHA guidelines and standards to ensure the safety of your workers.
Online Maintenance Requests
Lastly, you’ll want an easy way for your tenants to submit maintenance requests. If you haven’t already, online portals are recommended. This is because your tenants can easily and quickly submit their requests.
They can also describe their maintenance requests in detail. This makes it easier for you to determine whether it’s an essential or non-essential request. Tenants can submit photos of their maintenance issues along with typing out a description.
You can also schedule employees and provide them with your updated COVID-19 guidelines with online portals. This ensures everyone’s on the same page. Even better, you can keep track of the request through your vendors so that tenants can stay updated on what state they’re on.
Performing Property Maintenance During COVID-19
As you can see, it’s more than possible to perform property maintenance during COVID-19. However, you’ll have to institute some guidelines and changes in order to ensure that everyone is one the same page. Communicate through email, phone, or web pages about your new guidelines.
Ensure that you’re only addressing essential property maintenance. If you are, communicate with both your tenants and employees about the CDC social distancing requirements.
Consider if it’s possible for your tenant to quarantine in another room while the maintenance takes place. Keep informed about new guidelines in place, such as the rule prohibiting evictions.
Feeling overwhelmed by all the tasks you have on your plate? Check out the services we offer landlords and partner with a reputable Orange County property management company today.
