I get a lot of rolling eyes when I give my standard speech to landlords about dealing with tenant repair requests and habitability problems. I get questions, especially from landlords who are going through eviction proceedings, such as, “Do I have to go fix the broken item? The tenants haven’t paid rent in three months.” My favorite comment from the others: “I gave the tenants my repair person’s phone number. They haven’t called yet, so I don’t need to worry.”
Unfortunately, although we are all adults, landlords who can’t show a level of attentiveness can end up on the wrong side of the games played when rental problems surface. If you ever end up in court, here are three things you can do to make sure you end up on the right side of a rental problem.
1. Build provisions into your rental agreement that your tenants are responsible to contact you promptly for items in need of repairs.
Many standardized rental agreements, such as the ones from the California Association of Realtors and the California Apartment Association, have provisions in them that tenants are responsible to promptly contact their landlord/property manager about items that need repairs. In many cases, tenants may not want to bother a landlord with items that need repairs, especially if the tenants have in any way caused the damage. What ends up happening is that all the repair issues come up when things go bad and you file an eviction, for example. Putting the provision in your rental agreement that tenants need to contact you can prevent many problems with tenants banking on repairs being used against you.
2. Respond to repair requests as soon as possible.
Probably the number-one thing landlords need to keep in mind is that a request for repairs can lead to legal issues down the road if not dealt with properly. Obviously, the standard of review of your actions will vary depending on the type of repair request. A request to fix a burned out lightbulb will be treated differently than a pipe that has burst in the unit. Your job is to respond as soon as practically possible. If your tenant is experiencing an emergency, such as a water pipe breaking, send personnel out quickly. Not only do you want to mitigate the damage to your unit, but you also have an obligation to your tenant to ensure that fundamental items are repaired. If a tenant does not cooperate with you (for example, they do not return your phone calls to make arrangements with repair personnel to come to the property or they refuse entry into the unit to repair an item), then document these interactions and send correspondence indicating your attempts to address the repair issue.
3. Keep records of repairs made.
Anytime you make repairs to a rental unit, you should keep detailed records of the repairs needed and the repairs made to the unit. Keeping repair records helps you keep track of your business expenses for your rental, and it also provides you with documentation that repairs have been made in case you end up in court over the issue.
Having documentation and a policy of responding timely to habitability issues can save you a lot of time and hassle in court. Repair requests and responding to them can be very tricky at times, so if you are in doubt, call your trusted legal advisor to assist you with the situation.
