Top 10 Ways to Keep Maintenance out of Fair Housing Hot Water

/ Apartment Dynamics/

Here are the TOP 10 Ways to Keep Maintenance out of Fair Housing Hot Water!

  1. Keep ALL work documented on work orders in ResMan!  That way if a resident (not if, but when) a resident says we didn’t change their filter or we took longer to do their work than their neighbor’s, we have the facts.  That includes on-call work! Make sure it hits the work order system!
  2. If a resident stops you and asks you to do something, STOP! In all cases either enter it in ResMan from your phone or tablet for them, or call, email or text the office right then. In a nice way, recommend to them that they call it directly to the office next time.  The important thing is to get it in the work order system so it isn’t forgotten!
  3. If you perform the repair they stop you for right then, add it to the work order you’re in their home for or add it to ResMan from your phone/tablet, or call it in to the office for them to enter it at that time. 
  4. If it’s not an emergency, explain to the resident that you are already assigned to complete other work, but get it taken care of as soon as you can get it scheduled. 
  5. If you perform extra work in an apartment, say, you see a leak and repair it, add that to the completed work you enter in ResMan. 
  6. Leave the work area better than you found it!  Clean up after you complete a work order, and take your trash with you.  Little things can make a resident feel mistreated, or that their property/home wasn’t respected, so take care of those little things!
  7. Speak kindly and respectfully to ALL residents, even the ones that aren’t necessarily kind or respectful all the time themselves. 
  8. Just because they give you cookies…Doesn’t mean you can treat them different from other residents!  If you hang pictures for one resident, you have to be willing to hang pictures for another.  Give one resident “special treatment” and other residents WILL see it and feel slighted!
  9. Just because you live on property…You still have to follow policy consistently on completing work, even if it’s for your neighbor!  If your neighbor locks him or herself out after hours, you must handle that the same way you would EVERY other resident, within company policy.  If policy says you can’t let them in, then be open about it being against policy and tell them it could jeopardize your job.  Or if you help with an emergency after hours, it still has to be documented in ResMan like all other work. 
  10. Don’t tell one resident anything about another resident, their household, their children, other occupants, cleanliness, hoarding, customs, anything! You’ve probably seen it happen – it turns into a wildfire, and could have implications for protected classes!

Can you think of others?

Please share them!