The Dangers of Deferred Maintenance

 

One thing I have learned, rentals are always in need of maintenance. It can often feel like just as you’re finishing up one home improvement project, something else needs your attention. It can be easy to push home maintenance to the bottom of your To-Do list and call it deferred maintenance, but this often ends in disaster.

Deferred maintenance is common. Like waiting for an appliance in the home to   become inoperable before replacing it with a new one. It may seem more cost-effective than regular, preventative maintenance but it’s not. Here’s why:

Health and Safety

One of the biggest dangers of deferred maintenance is the impact on health and safety. A wobbly ceiling fan, unbalanced steps, weak flooring, and faulty electrical systems can put tenants at high risk for injury. Ignoring these small problems increases the chance that somebody will get hurt on the property. If there is any evidence that a system or appliance in the home could be a danger to the tenants, these issues must be addressed right away.

Compliance Standards

If you ever find yourself in the situation where your property is undergoing a compliance inspection, one of your first thoughts might be “I wish I fixed XYZ when I had the chance.” If your rental property does not meet compliance regulations, you could be faced with thousands of dollars in fines. It’s just not worth it. Preventative maintenance allows you to walk into a compliance inspection with confidence.

Some of the most common rental property violations rental that are often picked up upon inspection include:

Missing or broken smoke detectors

Leaking pipes/faulty plumbing

Insufficient ventilation

Electrical problems

Inadequate weatherproofing

Evidence bug/pest infestation

While you’re waiting for an appliance or system to completely break down, it will become increasingly more inefficient. This means your tenants will be working with appliances and systems that aren’t working at their best. This leads to frustration and inconvenience for the tenant, which eventually gets passed down to the landlord or property manager. Requiring your tenants to live with subpar appliances or equipment is not a landlord’s best practice. And when the appliance does finally breakdown, emergency maintenance and repairs are so much more expensive than preventive maintenance. Your tenants will expect a quick response for their broken refrigerator or washing machine. This will end up costing you a lot more than simply fixing a part.

Small Issues Cause Chain Reactions

It may seem like a faulty light switch or slowly leaking pipe is just a small problem that can wait to be fixed. But these small issues often cause chain reactions, sometimes reading to complete system failures. The amount of time and money it would take to call an electrician or a plumber to fix these small issues is nothing compared to trying to repair an entire home system in a short amount of time. Small issues are often signs of bigger, but not so obvious issues. What may seem like a small leak could be evidence of a deeper-rooted problem, such as a roof leak or mold growth. Preventive maintenance helps track these issues back to the source so they can be fixed before they become a dangerous and costly problem.