Proactive Rental Property Repairs — a Guide for Landlords

If you’re considering purchasing rental property for the first time, you’ve come to the right place. I host a short-term rental property on the coast of Maine and have gone through a trial by fire, learning what it takes to manage a place with two good-sized houses and 27 acres of land. I’m happy to pass some of that hard-earned knowledge on to you.

Whether you host a short-term rental place like mine, or have a small apartment complex with long-term tenants, being a successful landlord requires forethought. You have to anticipate what might go wrong with the property, addressing small problems before they have the chance to escalate. You also need to make sure your place is safe for renters and tenants to protect yourself from liability. 

Here are some of the best ways you can protect the real estate investments in your portfolio.

Hire Experienced People — and Treat Them Well

When my plumber of nine years quit taking on residential customers this season, I was only able to “get on the list” with the other well-regarded plumber in my rural area because he and my carpenter of many years are friends. 

Building relationships with trusted contractors and other regular employees pays off not just with referrals but in various other ways that will help you grow your business. You’ll get more attention from workers by paying competitive wages, accommodating their needs (yesterday, my cleaner had to bring her toddler to the job site, for instance), and providing clear instructions. 

Being respectful and compassionate — even when one of your employees makes a costly error — keeps interactions professional. Depending on the community in which you own a rental property, you may earn the reputation for being “difficult” if you fail to show respect. This can be especially challenging if the contractors themselves are unprofessional. But as the popular saying goes, you can only control your own behavior and reactions.

Be Vigilant About Rodents, Insects, and Other Pests

Last summer, it rained virtually every day on the Maine coast. This caused a problem that I failed to anticipate: a shocking increase in the number of mice on my property. The first renters of the season not only saw mouse droppings in the house; they saw the mice themselves. This has never happened before, but I have no one but myself to blame because I failed to set traps proactively to address the level of activity.

Instead, I had to pay for an emergency visit from the exterminator, comp the freaked-out renters for part of their stay, and suffer a lower rating than I usually receive. This was an expensive lesson in the need for proactivity — one that I won’t make again.

If you are a landlord, you probably don’t have the same level of review-based accountability as an Airbnb or VRBO host. But you still have a vested interest in the welfare of both your property and the tenants who live there. Rodents carry disease, and they can chew through electrical wiring. Other pests, like termites and carpenter ants, can destroy the foundation and support beams of your property. Finally, you may face legal action if you ignore a pest problem for too long.  

Until this incident, I did not think it was necessary to have an exterminator come at regular intervals. I live on-site and can usually spot problems before they develop. This mouse experience has changed my mind. Pests can be stealthy or crop up overnight, and you need regular deterrence to prevent them from becoming a problem. 

Maintain Your Septic System or Sewer Line

Not a year goes by that I don’t wish I had purchased a property without a septic system. They are expensive to install and expensive to maintain. Right now, one of my pumps is broken, and the warning system that would have let me know this was installed in the wrong house. 

That said, as a landlord you will run into plumbing issues whether or not you are on a septic system. If your property is in an area with clay soil, it’s common for the PVC piping that goes to your sewer to “belly” (that is, develop a low spot where waste collects). You can have the line snaked periodically,  but eventually, you will need to pony up for one of a property owner’s most expensive repairs: replacing the sewer line.  

Other problems that can really put a dent in cash flow are a leak under the shower pan (or anywhere it can’t be seen) or the presence of lead pipes in an older building. The initial buyer’s inspection should reveal issues like this in time for you to negotiate a lower sales price (but be sure to specifically ask your inspector to check for such issues). My advice would be: don't pocket the money you might have saved on the sales price, instead invest in plumbing that is safe and up to code. Inflation may be slowing, but the cost of plumbing continues to skyrocket, and repairs you make now are like money in the bank.

Invest in Your Roofing and Foundation

The first thing I did after purchasing my rental properties was have work done on the foundation of both houses. Even though it was obvious that the roofs needed replacing, I knew that no work I put into other aspects of the homes would pay off until the foundations were leveled and strengthened. 

An inspection report will not necessarily flag foundation issues. Mine didn’t. However, it soon became obvious that the kitchen floor of the main house needed reinforcement with a steel beam. The back house on the property was literally sinking into the marshy area near the woods and had to be hydraulic jacked into the air so that a concrete foundation could be poured.

As a potential owner of an investment property, in addition to the inspection report, you should view your rental property with a contractor and structural engineer, and have them identify issues that could cause long-term damage. You can give them a hand by noticing any soft spots in the drywall, flooring, or outdoor clapboards yourself beforehand. Water stains and cracks on stucco and brick facades may also conceal roof or foundation issues. 

Another structural issue to be aware of is poorly installed gutters, which can send water running straight down onto a door or window frame, eventually rotting the sills and warping the door. To stay on top of maintenance needs, periodically use a hose to pour water directly into the gutter to check for leaks and blocks.

Make Sure Your Wiring Is to Code

My rental house was built in 1812, and there have been several big additions since. The wiring that serves the place is a jerry rigged system that uses old-fashioned breakers, the kind you push in manually. There are only two grounded outlets in the entire 3,000 square foot building, and the voltage is low. If a renter uses more than two burners on the stove at once, they will trip that stove’s dedicated breaker.

It would have benefitted me to have the entire system upgraded when I first purchased the house. I was quoted a rate of $7,000 to do so. But my father, a master electrician, said that the wiring had been installed correctly even if it was no longer to code, so there was no imminent risk of an electrical fire. 

Now, I am faced with an inevitable upgrade, because temperatures and humidity levels are rising on our little peninsula. At some point I will want to install a couple of mini splits to make the place more comfortable. However, my lack of proactivity years ago will add about $8k to the tab, bringing the cost to more than double the price I was quoted initially. 

Have Trees Regularly Trimmed and Fertilized

Homeowners rarely consider the expense of maintaining their yard when they purchase a property. This holds true for many aspects of landscaping: having to put in a retaining wall to prevent erosion near your house, for instance, is a particularly expensive repair. 

Here, though, I’d like to focus on trees. If there are mature trees on your property, it is a smart move to care for them, watering as specified in a dry climate, keeping up with pruning, and fertilizing if your tree is at risk of disease. Having a mature tree removed is costly — in some communities, it might even be illegal — and could have a negative impact on the appearance of your property. In some cases, removing a tree will even cause an increase in utility bills. 

Final Words to the Wise

Letting repairs wait too long, or neglecting maintenance will result in a more costly future for you.  To avoid that, keep the following advice in mind: 

1. Pay for as many big expenses as you can when you first purchase the property. Obviously, you do not want to jeopardize the amount of cash you have on-hand for those unforeseen expenses that will only reveal themselves when a problem manifests. But if you have an allocated renovation budget, use it to make as many structural repairs as you can before increased damage also increases the cost of repairs. 
2. Never invest in cosmetic improvements until structural improvements are in place. There’s no point in putting on a fresh coat of paint  if your walls are taking on moisture from a roof leak. There’s no point in renovating a kitchen when the subfloor is rotting underneath. If you don’t deal with the structural repair needs first, you are just wasting your money. 
3. Inspect your property regularly and encourage honest feedback. If you make a point of inspecting your place regularly, you will learn to recognize when something is amiss and needs further attention. Casual inspection might be difficult with a long term rental, but if making a trip yourself isn’t possible, you can encourage tenants to quickly let you know when things seem off. Then, be sure to be timely and efficient in addressing the issues they raise. 

A little extra time and energy spent on being proactive with your inspections, repairs, and maintenance, will save you (and your bank account) a lot of pain later!