Published by LeakTicket
Field notes on maintenance work, habitability rules, and repair economics for owners running 2 to 40 rental units.
practical guide
Judges decide repair disputes on the paper trail, not the story. Here is the record a small landlord should build from the first tenant message to the final vendor invoice.
comparison
Three ways to get a work order closed, three very different cost structures. Compare wage plus workers comp, trip charges and after hours rates, and percent of rent plus markup.
mistakes to avoid
Most deposit cases are lost by the owner, not won by the tenant. These are the deduction errors that turn a fair charge into a refund order, plus penalties in some states.
regulation and compliance
Sanding a window sash in an older unit can put you under a federal work practice rule. Here are the thresholds, certifications, containment steps, and records the EPA expects.
case study
Follow one winter heat complaint through the standard municipal path: intake, inspection, notice of violation, correction window, reinspection, and the hearing where records decide the outcome.
trends and outlook
Renewal questions have shifted from square footage to roof year, water loss history, and shutoff devices. Here is how that underwriting logic works and what it means for repair planning.
checklist
One pass through the building before the first freeze, room by room and system by system, with the entry notice rules and the photos worth filing on every stop.
numbers and benchmarks
Roofs, water heaters, and furnaces fail on a schedule you can plan for. Turn published service life ranges into a defensible monthly reserve for each unit you own.
field report
Older garden apartments fail in patterns. A month of tickets in a 1960s building shows how cast iron stacks, galvanized supply lines, and aging panels drive most of the calls.
Every deposit case, code notice and insurance question comes back to the same paper trail. Our guide to documenting repairs sets out what to capture from the first tenant message to the final invoice.
How to Document a Repair So It Holds Up in Small Claims Court
Then work outward: the eight other pieces in The Repair Log each take one part of it further, and every one links back here.
