Top Tip To Keep Your Tenants From Calling – The Number One Problem With Rental Properties

As a investment property owner the last thing that you want to get is a call from a tenant in one of your properties. Ninety nine times out of one hundred it means trouble for the owner. Some properties generate a lot of calls while others receive hardly any calls. I don't know about you but I do not like getting calls in my free time. Over the last twenty years in this business I have narrowed the problems down one problem that keeps repeating itself.

Over the years I found that the amount of calls that I get is a direct correlation to the amount of plumbing work I put into the property. Two properties that I own are currently rented and I get a call every month or so from one and I am yet to get a call from the other. What is the difference between these two properties? In property number one I changed every plumbing fixture to brand new copper and PVC drains. In the other property I left the old plumbing that came with the house. That consisted of some copper, some galvanized, and some metal drain pipes. All plumbing was in working condition when I first bought the property and I just rented it without any new repairs.

I pay for the mistake of keeping that old plumbing just about every month. Tenants are hard on plumbing, especially drains. Old metal drains can be a nightmare in a rental property. Even though a metal drain looks perfect on the outside, but the inside may be another story all together. I have seen drain pipe that was plugged almost completely shut with deposits that built up over the years. These deposits are very rough like sand paper. The problem is that upon initial testing the water that you run in the sink will go down the drain. It is when other things are added the rough surface in the small openings in the pipe catch debris and shut off, allowing no water through. When the drain plugs you are the first one to get called to fix it. A plunger will usually free the drain but it usually wont last. PVC pipes don't usually have the problem of deposits on the inside of the pipe.

Water pipes that are galvanized will also fill up with deposits. These deposits will cause a decrease in water pressure if they don't plug all together. I have seen these deposits get in the water valves making them impossible to shut off completely.

I personally will never rent another property without completely changing out all the plumbing in the house from start to finish. I found that this method dramatically cuts down on my problems.