Chances are, at some point during your lease term, you’ll need to submit a maintenance request. While some general maintenance concerns are obvious to inform your Property Manager of, there are quite a few that blur the lines. What may seem like common practice to a seasoned renter or a resident who may have previously owned a home, can appear like an emergency to a first time renter. To help define the importance of each situation, we are sharing when and why to submit a maintenance request below.
Typical Maintenance Requests
Typical maintenance items include clogged toilets, light bulb replacements, and garbage disposal concerns. These are requests residents are able to resolve themselves in a lot of instances. Battery replacements for a smoke detector or garage remote are two other examples.
When to submit these types of requests?
Cathedral ceilings are such a perk! The only downfall is when you notice a light bulb burned out and you can’t reach it to replace it. This is also the case if you hear your smoke detector chirping, but you cannot access it from a small step ladder. Submit a request for direct maintenance whenever safety is a concern, like climbing a tall ladder.
Many times, residents may even have questions as to what sort of light bulb or battery to purchase. Our managers can share links to different retailers that sell each type of bulb or battery used at their property too.
Anyone who’s ever clogged a toilet and experienced the fear of rising water knows how important it is not to test the porcelain God’s. Should you not succeed you may end up flooding your bathroom. Instead of avoiding eye contact with your property manager, maintenance staff, or potenial downstairs neighbor for the remainder of your residency, we suggest submitting a maintenance request right away.
While certain items can be corrected with ease, there are things residents may not feel comfortable handling without assistance. Thankfully, we’ve created video turtorials for residents at all Morgenson Realty properties to utilize for that not-so-typical stuff. Resetting your garbage disposal or a tripped breaker shouldn’t be cause for stress or feeling inconvenienced by maintenance staff in your apartment. That same location on our website allows residents to login to their portal and submit maintenance remotely. To learn more about the benefits of submitting maintenance online, click here.
Why it’s Important to Submit Minor Requests
We rely on our residents to ensure a smaller problem does not become a much larger one. Informing your property manager of a minor maintenance matter can be a good guide of what is a residents responsibility and what is the responsibility of the property management company.
There are also times our managers can correct the issue themselves without maintenance. In other instances, we may already have a third-party vendor on-site and be able to send them over to look at your request immediately. 
Emergency Maintenance
Let us open by saying, anything you consider to be an emergency maintenance concern should be called in right away. We are lucky that our policies allow for several lines of defense when it comes to emergencies. Property Managers for all Morgenson Realty Company, Inc. locations have smart phones on their person 24/7. This allows a resident to call at any time, day or night. Our teams have saved contacts and alarm montioring companies that also communicate with them directly. Major property accidents or emergencies can set off alarms that alert our staff immediately, as well. These communications can also be received by our maintenance team.
When to submit emergency maintenance requests?
Water leaking from your toilet, dishwasher or under your sink. Your refrigerator won’t stay cool, your heat isn’t working or your toilet is running. All of these examples are reasons to submit maintenance immediately. Additionally, broken door locks or unexplained power outages, though uncommon, are serious matters that are our responsibility to fix too. For anything outside our maintenance teams capabilities, we contact a third party vendor to assist.
This is true when it comes to common area concerns too. If a resident notices water dripping in underground parking, that is cause for an emergency maintenance request. If you hear your neighbors arguing past quiet hours however, that would not be consider an emergency. Your communities emergency phone line should be used when appropriate and for serious situations only.
Why it’s Important to Submit Emergency Maintenance Requests
There are two main reasons it’s imporant to submit an urgent request. If the situation presents a safety risk or property damage – you should reach out right away.
Avoiding charges upon moving out of your apartment is also a good reason. If your toilet is running, but you never contact management, there is no way of knowing when it started. If your properties water utility bill is paid by the management company, that could lead to losing money from your security deposit.