Landlord Lifeline

Are Tenants Calling at 2:00 a.m.?

Perhaps a dozen or so years as a landlord has toughened my hide, but calls in the middle of the night still send my heart racing.  It took me a few years to come up with a workable solution to tell tenants what they could and could not call me for in the middle of the night.

It was probably calls like this that made me work out boundaries and guidelines.  A young couple with their first baby…so they are probably up anyway…calling after midnight to tell me that the roof is leaking.  It was raining cats and dogs, so logic says that despite the hour no one is going on the roof to fix the leak right now…so why are you calling me?  “Just wanted to make sure you knew.”

Or the tenant my husband still refers to as “the high maintenance lady”, who called when the couple in the adjoining unit raised their voices at each other.  If she had asked at a decent hour, I might have been pleasant, but 2:00 a.m.?  I told her if she they were disturbing her sleep to call the police.  Granted the couple was out of line, but what could I do?

So…now my Building Rules, an addendum to the lease, clearly states when to call me and when to call 911.  During the lease signing, we briefly discuss that if there is a fire they should call 911 first…then call me.  If the neighbors are fighting at 2:00 a.m., just call 911.  In the morning, you can call or email me.

The “leaky roof kids” spurred my thinking into creating a Repairs Request Form.  Now the dripping faucets and “the garbage disposal is making a funny noise” calls come to me on the form…faxed, emailed or snail mail is irrelevant…it just isn’t another phone call.

Thanks!

B

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