Simple Guide to Apartment Repairs and Maintenance

There are many responsibilities that come with being a landlord. Some are for your benefit as the property owner and some are for the protection and benefit of your tenants. Property maintenance and repairs fall under both these categories.

Keeping up with regular maintenance keeps your property in peak condition and ensures you’re not risking legal action by your tenants. In this guide to apartment repairs and maintenance, you’ll learn everything you need to know.

Landlord Responsibilities for Maintenance

Under California law, there are certain responsibilities you have as a landlord to keep a property in safe and livable condition.

When Are Landlords Responsible for Repairs?

Anything that makes a property potentially dangerous or unlivable falls on the landlord to repair and maintain. For example, if a pest infestation happens, the landlord must take care of the problem, as this falls under maintaining a livable space. If something becomes damaged due to normal wear and tear with age, it is the landlord’s responsibility to fix or replace it.

Other examples include:

• Mold infestations
• Plumbing
• Electrics
• Running and hot water
• Structural issues
• Roof damage
• Broken locks, doors, or windows

When Are Tenants Responsible for Repairs?

If a tenant or one of their guests causes property damage not due to wear and tear, they are responsible for repairs.

Similarly, if an issue falls under the “safe and livable conditions” category but is caused by tenant behavior, they are responsible. An example of this would be mold or pests because the tenant is not regularly cleaning the premises or removing trash.

California landlord law mandates that for urgent issues (such as a broken front door or a severe leak) the landlord must respond within 24 hours to have the issue rectified. For less urgent issues, landlords have up to 30 days to respond.

Guide to Apartment Repairs and Maintenance for Landlords

If you perform maintenance and repairs regularly at your rental property, you can avoid a lot of costly damage further down the line.

Perform Regular Inspections

Getting ahead of a bad maintenance problem can be as simple as conducting regular inspections of your property. Make sure you check your residence fully every time a new tenant moves in and out. It’s also a good idea to include regular inspections in your lease agreement so you can check up on the state of the unit throughout a tenant’s stay.

Conduct maintenance and repairs between tenants

Failing to conduct preventive maintenance can lead to costly repairs down the road. For example, if the plumbing and electrical systems go a long time without maintenance and inspection and an emergency occurs when a tenant is mid-lease, you’ll need to respond within 24 hours and deal with the cost of repair.

Conducting inspections and maintenance in between tenants means you can spot issues that need to be fixed and can even take care of the repair yourself at a lower cost.

Get Professionals When Required

While it can be tempting to take care of all repairs and maintenance issues yourself, sometimes a professional is absolutely necessary. It’s also a good idea to source some reliable vendors so that you can trust them to take care of any emergency work needed during a lease.

Landlord Repair and Maintenance Checklist

Whether a tenant has just moved out or one will be moving in soon, there are some key areas you’ll want to inspect and repair.

Start off with more serious and structural inspections, such as:

• Test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
• Roof and gutter conditions
• Leaks and water damage
• Appearance of mold
• Electrical problems
• Hot water system
• HVAC system and filter changes

You’ll also want to take care of more cosmetic problems. These types of maintenance tasks can include:

• Repair and maintenance of unit appliances
• Patch drywall damage
• Repair and paint cracks
• Deep clean or replace tile grout and caulk

How Genuine Property Management Helps with Repairs and Maintenance

At Genuine Property Management, we work with a team of trusted vendors to ensure all repairs are of the highest quality. Not only will your property be safe and well looked after, but your tenants will be satisfied with our 24/7 maintenance requests center. Learn more about how we can help. Call us today at 949-209-9494.