List of how best to maintain rental property

Hi! I have a rental in NSW managed by an agent.
I’m trying to keep on top of maintenance etc so that small issues don’t become big ones as I have just experienced with another rental.

What are some items that should be checked regularly? Gutters cleaned? Anything else?
Thankyou

 

What you actually need is a competent PM. You are paying an agency to do this for you, and they should be addressing most of these items in bulk as part of their procedures. For example, an email in autumn asking if you want the gutters cleaned before winter, this would be sent out from their management software. The essential periodic maintenance should be on the management authority and already be scheduled by them such as servicing smoke alarms. Other items should be noted at routine inspections or reported by tenants. If you are not getting this sort of service, then you are with the wrong property managers.

The other side of the coin is that they may well be doing all these things, but as it is so smooth and seamless that you are not aware that it is in hand. Either way you should speak with your PM to see what is in hand and what is not. Some people think that as they don’t ever have any problems with Ips then they are wasting their money having a PM, when it is precisely because they are well looked after that they don’t have any problems.

 

Thanks for this! Hard to know if they’re competent until things go wrong.


QUOTE="Tom Cooper, post: 1349012, member: 34136"]What you actually need is a competent PM. You are paying an agency to do this for you, and they should be addressing most of these items in bulk as part of their procedures. For example, an email in autumn asking if you want the gutters cleaned before winter, this would be sent out from their management software. The essential periodic maintenance should be on the management authority and already be scheduled by them such as servicing smoke alarms. Other items should be noted at routine inspections or reported by tenants. If you are not getting this sort of service, then you are with the wrong property managers.

The other side of the coin is that they may well be doing all these things, but as it is so smooth and seamless that you are not aware that it is in hand. Either way you should speak with your PM to see what is in hand and what is not. Some people think that as they don’t ever have any problems with Ips then they are wasting their money having a PM, when it is precisely because they are well looked after that they don’t have any problems.[/QUOTE]

 

Actually the best thing as well are nosy old lady tenants. Comments like “ I can hear running water” have saved me a fortune.

I’ve been to inspections with PMs and they only really look inside.

When a trade is doing work I usually get them to do other jobs while they are there, if you can chat to them so much the better e.g. “is there anything else I should be worried about”.

 

We always inspected our IPs annually.
Talked to the tenants about any concerns.
Had a good look to see if any upcoming maintenance that may be needed.

The PM reports what they see during inspections.
They don’t always go looking for signs of issues that may occur in the future.

 

Thanks
I’ve just had all the drainage and plumbing checked to try to prevent future issues

 

PMs generally dont do preventative maintenance excepting when something starts to appear poor condition from a tenant perspective eg repaint, flooring etc. . They tend to focus on reactive maintenance when they are aware. And the priority may not always be high if its not needed etc. Many tennats say - Oh the oven is old etc. That doesnt mean it needs replacement if is working. They have enough to do without looking for time that isnt paid.