The Importance of Having a Property Maintenance Plan

You get an unexpected call from your tenant to report a leaking faucet or broken mains water pipe in your rental property.

This is scenario is something that property owners like you are familiar with. There are many benefits to owning an investment property, but just like any business, it comes with expenses and some of these can come out of the blue. These expenses could be repairs or replacement expenses which can be expensive.

Here is where a maintenance plan comes in. There are jobs that should be done in and around the property regularly, i.e. monthly, quarterly, annually and even every change in the season. With so many recurrent costs associated with owning an investment property, there is value in creating and implementing a property maintenance plan.

Here are some of the advantages of having a maintenance plan for your investment property:

1. Repair minor problems to prevent major ones

Don’t ignore the maintenance requests from your tenant. Fixing small problems may be less costly as leaving them unrepaired could result in bigger, and more expensive, repairs. For example, a water leak is inconvenient at the very least, but when left unrepaired for too long can damage belongings and property.

2. Avoid too many period of vacancy

The lack of maintenance by landlord is one of the main causes why tenants give notice to vacate. Keeping your property well-maintained ensures your tenant is happy and it betters your chances of receiving a higher rental income. If your tenant is happy, chances are they would stay in your property longer. And since they see you are always on top of maintenance, they would most likely reciprocate by taking care of your property. A property not is obviously not well kept would likely remain vacant for long periods, and this would not be good for your return on investment.

3. Increase property value

A well-maintained property is more attractive to tenants, ensuring that you have a large pool of renters to choose from. If you decide to sell in the future, a well-maintained property will attract more prospective buyers than a property that has numerous repair issues. You will also have the leverage of asking for a higher sale price and getting it on the strength of your well-kept property alone.

Hiring a property manager will be a great help with property maintenance. They will assess what repairs or upgrades need to be done according to the things they discover during routine inspections of your property. In addition, property managers maintain close relationships with tradies, so they can recommend which charges reasonable rates for quality work.

It takes time and effort to maintain a home that is why it is recommended that landlords create a maintenance schedule – to help keep track of jobs easily. Ensuring your property is clean and in good condition is considerably less expensive than having to wait until damaged areas things need to be or replaced.