Posted: March 19, 2021
While regular maintenance is a major part of your job as a landlord, springtime gives you the opportunity to take things to the next level. Just like most people have a spring cleaning checklist for their homes, you should have one for the property that you manage. Taking the time to perform some basic spring cleaning tasks annually not only keeps your current tenants happy, but it also makes the property that you manage more attractive to potential renters.
Outdoor Maintenance
Depending on where the building you’re managing is located, wintertime can wreak havoc on the exterior of your building. If the winter months produce snow and ice in your area, the landscaping that surrounds your building may need significant work by the time springtime comes. Curb appeal is a vital part of the rental property market, and springtime is the perfect time to freshen up any mulch that may have been buried by snow as well as trimming up shrubs, adding a fresh coat of paint and pressure washing sidewalks.
Air Conditioning Maintenance
Springtime is the beginning of air conditioning season and your tenants will expect to be comfortable. While there are certain steps you can take to prepare air conditioning units in your building, such as changing filters and cleaning out vents, you should also consider contacting a local HVAC contractor to perform a full springtime tune-up. Having a professional maintenance visit performed on your building’s air conditioning systems can keep the systems running efficiently while also ensuring that your tenants are comfortable.
Sealing Windows and Doors
The weather stripping and the seals that runs along the inside of windows and doors in your building serve multiple purposes. Since spring usually brings rain showers and potentially severe thunderstorms, properly sealed windows and doors work to keep water from getting inside your building. Furthermore, having your doors and windows sealed correctly will keep air from leaking out of your building. Air leaks lead to higher utility bills, so this is another step in the maintenance process that protects comfort and efficiency.
Checking Waterlines
Water damage is one of the most potentially disastrous issues your building could encounter. Since temperatures drop during winter, the potential for water to freeze inside the waterlines increases. Once water freezes inside a building’s plumbing system, pipes are susceptible to cracking which leads to leaks that can do serious damage to your building’s interior. Checking all of the waterlines for cracks and leaks may not be a glamourous job, but it’s a necessary part of keeping your building operating at its best.
Roofs and Gutters
Once you’ve checked the waterlines under your building, you should also climb up to check out the roof and gutters at the top. Just like wintertime has the potential to damage landscaping, air conditioners and plumbing, it can also produce serious issues with your roof and gutters. In most cases, roofs last between 20 and 30 years, but that is when the roof has been properly cared for. Since snow and ice carry more weight than rain, it’s not uncommon for roofs to develop leaks during winter while gutters often become bent and unattached. Give everything at the top of your building a thorough check as a part of your spring maintenance checklist.
The work of a building manager or landlord is never done, but certain times of year are more important for routine maintenance than others. The newness of spring allows you to ensure that your tenants are comfortable and your building is operating efficiently. Spring maintenance isn’t the most glamorous part of property management, but it is certainly one of the most important.