Although you may not be able to prevent many resident-caused fires, other types of apartment community fires are easily preventable. Owners or their maintenance staff should conduct monthly fire inspections of areas and items that are potential fire hazards. If your maintenance staff conducts...
Clean, safe water is a precious resource that we all need to survive and often take for granted. But as droughts and water-rationing measures in states like California affect water supplies and usage for millions of people, responsible owners and managers everywhere are starting to take steps to...
As a tax credit owner or manager, you must stay on top of your site’s painting needs. The tax credit law requires sites to be suitable for occupancy and free from health, safety, and building code violations. If your state utilizes HUD’s uniform physical condition standards for your...
If your site utilizes heating oil as a fuel for furnaces or boilers at its buildings, you should take steps to ensure that you aren’t paying for more oil than is being delivered to your site. Unscrupulous oil companies can trick owners about the amount of fuel that’s delivered to a...
You and your maintenance staff have different issues to tackle during each season of the year. In the fall, most sites need to prepare for winter. But because some of the things that should be on your “to do” list for fall haven’t been done in an entire year, it’s easy to...
Residents’ maintenance needs can vary greatly, from changing a hard-to-reach light bulb to fixing an overflowing toilet that’s flooding a bathroom. Some of your residents’ maintenance requests, while important, may not be emergencies. But other residents’ requests may...
One of the most important things you can do before winter settles in at your site is to inspect your roof. That’s because most roof damage occurs during winter. Harsh weather conditions—such as heavy rain or snow, strong winds, and extreme temperatures—can cause substantial...
With the approach of the fall heating season, it’s a good time to consider the steps that need to be taken to get your heating system online for the upcoming cold weather. Increasing oil prices have alerted many owners to the basic fact that an inefficient boiler will waste unnecessary...
Reports of water leaking from a bathroom ceiling or other types of water intrusion in a unit are serious complaints that deserve your immediate attention. Sometimes a pipe may break, in which case a household is not at fault. Other times, a resident’s child may have thrown toys down the...
Preventive maintenance is a thankless task. Occurring behind the scenes, preventive maintenance usually doesn’t get noticed unless something disastrous happens. Owners and managers often give landscaping and cleaning services priority because the benefits associated with those activities...
Most residents are good about reporting maintenance problems. Some owners and managers may say that they’re too good. But there are residents who don’t report maintenance problems. Perhaps these residents are too busy or don’t want members of your maintenance staff in their...
With the beginning of spring, now is the optimal time to think about lease-ups and how you may turn over recently vacated units faster. That’s because spring and summer are the times when most sites experience their busiest leasing months. When a resident moves out, you shouldn’t let...
