Please Put In the Maintenance Request
At a renewal inspection this month, we found a kitchen faucet running a steady stream. The tenant had lived there six years, and when we asked whether he'd put in a maintenance request, he gave us an honest answer: "Nah man, didn't want to bother y'all."
He's a great tenant, and we're grateful to have him. But this post is for him and for every tenant who thinks the same way: please put in the request. We actually want to know.
"Didn't Want to Bother Y'all"
We hear some version of this all the time, and it almost always comes from the tenants we like most. They're considerate and low-maintenance, and they don't want to be a hassle. So they live with the dripping faucet, the running toilet, or the cabinet door that won't close, and they figure it isn't worth a phone call.
We get the instinct. But from our side, a maintenance request isn't a bother. It's information. We can't fix what we don't know about, and the longer a small problem sits, the less small it gets.
Small Leaks Are Never Actually Small
According to the EPA's WaterSense program, a faucet dripping just once per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons a year. The faucet we found wasn't dripping. It was a steady stream.
Wasted water is only part of the problem. Water that isn't going where it's supposed to has a way of finding cabinets, subfloors, and drywall. A worn faucet part that takes minutes to replace today can turn into a moldy sink base or a soft floor six months from now.
We've written before about why we never let tenants attempt their own repairs, after a well-meaning DIY fix on a toilet handle left the tank running for weeks and pushed a $175 water bill to $636. Not reporting a problem and trying to fix it yourself tend to end the same way. A two-minute request would have prevented both.
A Story From My Own Kitchen
I rent too. I lease my apartment from a large national management company, and I like renting.
A few years back, my daughter burned a pot of rice and dumped it down the garbage disposal. It clogged the P-trap and broke the teeth right off the disposal.
I put in a maintenance request, and in it I told them it was our fault and asked them to charge me fairly for the repair. They fixed it, charged me, and I paid. It was our fault, after all.
I'm an amazing tenant. (My daughter was less thrilled about the extra chores that followed, and to this day she's careful about what goes down the disposal.)
That's the point. Reporting something promptly, even something you caused, is what good tenants do. It keeps a small repair small, it keeps the charge fair, and it builds exactly the kind of trust that pays off at renewal time and when you need a reference for your next place. We've written more about how to be a good tenant and why it pays off.
Winter Raises the Stakes
Here in the Black Hills, the cost of waiting goes up fast once temperatures drop. A drip you ignored in September can become a frozen or burst pipe in January. Here's what we ask of every tenant this time of year, based largely on the American Red Cross's frozen-pipe guidance:
Keep the heat on and steady. Keep the thermostat at the same temperature day and night during cold snaps. If you travel over the holidays, never set it below 55°F.
Open the cabinet doors on cold nights. Opening the kitchen and bathroom cabinets, especially on exterior walls, lets warm air reach the pipes. (Move cleaning products out of kids' reach first.)
Let it drip when it's bitterly cold. A trickle of cold water from a faucet on an exposed pipe helps keep it from freezing.
Disconnect garden hoses. A hose left on an outdoor spigot can freeze the pipe behind the wall.
Know where the water shutoff is. If a pipe bursts, shutting the water off fast is the difference between a repair and a flood.
If the faucet only trickles, call us. That can be the first sign of a frozen pipe. Never try to thaw a pipe with an open flame.
What Should Be Reported? Almost Everything.
Anything dripping, running, or leaking. No heat, or heat that isn't keeping up. A furnace that smells like burning. Any smoke or CO alarm that goes off (if a CO alarm sounds, get everyone outside and call 911 first, then call us). Ice or water where it shouldn't be. Anything you broke, even by accident.
And yes, that includes after hours. A problem at 8 p.m. is still cheaper to handle at 8 p.m. than at 8 a.m. the next morning.
Is something in your rental dripping, running, or just not quite right?
Put in the request today. It costs you nothing, and it protects your home, your belongings, and your deposit. Let's talk. Blair Allen Property Management serves owners across South Dakota and Montana.
Chris Twiggs
President, Blair Allen Property Management
📞 605-545-1218
✉️ chris@blairallen.com