How Landlords Can Stay Afloat During Plumbing Problems

Landlords never embrace calls from unhappy tenants. As well as often leading to significant financial outlays, this sign that your tenant isn’t loving their home as much as you’d like can be disheartening. Unfortunately, some problems are bound to arise when you’re dealing with multiple properties, especially when it comes to everyday concerns like plumbing.

From burst pipes to faucet leaks and even blockages, landlords need to address plumbing issues quickly and efficiently to preserve their properties and ensure tenant happiness. That’s why we’ve put together some top tips for how landlords can handle any plumbing problem.

# 1 - Have a Go-To Plumber

Waiting until something happens to find a plumber is a problem for multiple reasons. For one thing, it can lead to unnecessary delays and high callout costs. For another, it means bringing an untested plumber into your tenant’s home.

These are two problems you’ll want to avoid by simply settling on a tried and trusted plumber in advance. To do this, seek a quality company with great reviews and a wide range of residential services, such as Bluefrog Plumbing. With their number on your phone, you’ll have instant access to a tried and tested plumbing service that ensures the results you need.

You may also find that, once you get to know a dedicated plumbing team, they’re able to offer priority services as thanks for the regular custom you’ll bring their way.

# 2 - Know Your Responsibilities

Knowing your responsibilities is always crucial as a landlord, and plumbing is no exception. As a general rule, it’s important to remember that you’re responsible for the ins, outs and maintenance of plumbing across your properties. This means issues like burst pipes and water line repair fall to you. However, landlords aren’t responsible for plumbing issues that arise from tenant mishaps, such as blocked toilets or flooding from leaving taps on.

Making sure that these responsibilities are clearly outlined in your rental contracts can go a long  way towards avoiding confusion. If there’s still doubt about responsibility, it’s always worth visiting a property to inspect a plumbing problem in person. That way, you’ll be able to determine who should pay. Even if the fault lies with your tenants, though, do what you can to help. For instance, offering to contact your usual plumber on their behalf could make a huge difference.

# 3 - Prioritize Routine Maintenance

While many landlords fail to consider property plumbing until a problem arises, routine maintenance is generally a more affordable solution. Annual checks of things like exposed pipeworks, shower seals, and tap faucets should all be a standard part of your process between tenancies.

Arranging regular boiler service and drain cleaning can also ensure that plumbing problems  don’t sneak up on you or your tenants. This may seem like an additional expense upfront, but it can save you a significant amount of money in the long run!

But if you’re managing several apartments, it may also be worth getting extra support instead of trying to juggle every maintenance issue yourself (which a lot of landlords are super guilty of doing because they want to save money). So, it really can’t be stressed enough here that a property management company can help keep routine checks organized, deal with tenant reports faster, and make sure small plumbing concerns don’t sit ignored until they turn into expensive emergencies. Seriously, they’re worth their weight in gold if you own more than one property.

As a landlord, you’ve got enough on your plate without drowning in plumbing problems. Stay afloat no matter what starts to leak by following these top tips!

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