19th January 2010

Providing Tenant Self-Service Options

posted in Care and Feeding of Tenants |

I recently read a blog post about enabling tenants to interact with you, the landlord, in a ’self service’ sort of way. This blog post espoused the benefits (cost and otherwise) of providing tenants more than one way to make contact in order to place a maintenance request, for instance.

The blog post suggests a scenario where the the tenant logs into a web site where she places a maintenance request and is updated every step of the way during the maintenance process (processing, scheduling, completion, etc.) via email thereby eliminating phone calls which are, according to the blog post, more expensive to process.

This idea sounds really good in theory but I seriously doubt that it works very well in practice. In my experience, tenants feel more confident that you got the message when they’ve left a phone message.

If the landlord is “running the show” solo, he’s going to want to go inspect the maintenance issue himself to possibly avoid sending an expensive repair person on site to determine that the tenant is clueless as to how an electrical panel works, for example.

In my opinion, as a landlord, you would have to have a large number of units and incredibly “connected” tenant population to make this effective from your point of view.

I’m curious as to how the other landlords who read this blog feel about this subject. Please feel free to leave your comments below and thanks for reading.

There are currently 4 responses to “Providing Tenant Self-Service Options”

Why not let us know what you think by adding your own comment! Your opinion is as valid as anyone elses, so come on... let us know what you think.

  1. 1 On January 19th, 2010, Clifford said:

    This might work if tenants reported only problems that should be the responsibility of the landlord to fix. I have a set of tenants who complain if the grass gets just a little too high or if a light bulb burns out.

    I prefer taking a trip to the scene of the crime first before calling anyone. A lot of times, the problem is not what they think and can be resolved with just a little know-how and elbow grease.

  2. 2 On January 19th, 2010, TheLandlord said:

    Right on Cliff. I have some tenants like that too. All it takes is a phone call to remind them of the $100 minimum for repairs. As in, any repairs under $100 they’re responsible for.

  3. 3 On January 20th, 2010, Jessica Hickok said:

    I love the idea, but like you said…in theory. However, if my tenant doesn’t have a phone, they most likely don’t have internet access either. Hmmm…maybe that would be the ideal scenario!

  4. 4 On January 31st, 2010, Robert said:

    I like the idea here, and we’ve tried to automate as many tenant processes as possible. However, as several folks have pointed out, a maintenance request really requires direct confirmation of the issue, understanding which vendor of any) needs to be sent, and a confirmation of expectations with the tenant. At RD House, we do allow tenants to submit maintenace issues online, so that we can best route/assign them internally, but they are then handled by phone through conclusion.

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