As a prospective apartment tenant, you are probably wondering who is responsible for apartment maintenance and what it includes.
Apartment maintenance refers to the reasonable upkeep and services to keep your apartment and the property in functional and quality condition.
At a professional mid to large-size property, this is done by a maintenance team and tasks include a variety of items such as HVAC appliances, flooring, roofing, doors, walls, and locks. Check your lease though for specifics.
What Maintenance Does a Landlord/Apartment Manager Look After?
Apartment maintenance typically includes all permanent and semi-permanent features. This includes HVAC appliances, flooring, roofing, doors, walls, and locks. Check your lease though for specifics.
Additional services like pest control, landscaping, 24/7 emergency service, grounds keeping, and snow removal may also be included, but this is not always the case. It is important to check your lease.
Good apartment maintenance anticipates and addresses issues promptly and quickly.
What Maintenance is the Tenant’s Responsibility?
Once you move into the apartment, some things are your responsibility and not the landlords so it is important to understand the distinction. Some items that tenants’ responsibility include:
- Replacing or repairing personal items.
- Damage caused by you (tenant for example, putting non-flushable items down the toilet, scratching floors and walls etc).
- Fixing items you installed without permission.
- Changing light bulbs
What Do Apartment Maintenance Teams Oversee?
Many apartment maintenance teams are full time and are on call to handle a number of maintenance requests, including possible non-life threatening emergencies. Some of the tasks maintenance can oversee include:
- Washing hallways and driveways.
- Cleaning gyms, swimming pools and other common areas.
- Handling plumbing, heating, electrical and air conditioning issues.
- Fixing locks
- Fixing hot water problems.
Third Party Experts are usually called in as needed (i.e. pest control, HVAC technician). With so many responsibilities, an apartment maintenance team is usually busy, especially if the complex is large.
