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a cabin in the middle of the woods

Handling maintenance requests is a regular part of managing a rental property, but it’s also essential to conduct seasonal maintenance on your property. If you’ve prepared your property for the fall, the next step is doing the same for the winter — which generally results in harsher weather conditions. 

To guide you along the process, we outlined a winter rental property maintenance checklist for landlords to check off before the winter arrives.

1. Notify Tenants of Snow Removal Services

Your lease should state whether snow removal is the landlord’s or tenant’s responsibility. If it’s the landlord’s responsibility, set up a snow removal service to help after heavy snowfalls, especially if you do not live close to your property.

Let your tenants know once you’ve set up a removal service and when the service will show up to remove snow, as well as where to contact you if there are any issues regarding snow removal.

2. Provide Snow and Ice Removal Tools (If Necessary)

If snow removal is the tenant’s responsibility, remind them at the beginning of winter, so they know how to handle snowfall. If you want, you can provide shovels and ice melt for them as a friendly extra step. 

However, shoveling snow can cause injuries if not done correctly and take time to do, so it’s important to check if tenants have time to do this before requiring them to complete this step.

Additionally, if your property is dog-friendly, you should provide dog-friendly ice melt to be considerate of your tenants.

3. Test Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors

Check your rental properties’ smoke and carbon monoxide detectors as winter hits. Smoke and carbon monoxide are problematic in the winter when tenants aren’t opening windows as often.

Even though tenants can see smoke, you still need to provide smoke detectors. Detectors are essential at night when tenants are asleep and may not realize smoke is in the air.

Unlike smoke, carbon monoxide is difficult to detect because it has no odor, color, or taste. This makes carbon monoxide detectors all the more important. According to the CDC, carbon monoxide poisoning peaks in December and January. It’s now even nicknamed “the silent winter killer.”

Most states require you to provide functioning smoke detectors for your tenants. There are often regulations about the location of the detectors. For example, most states require a detector in each bedroom where someone sleeps and in hallways adjacent to the bedrooms.

Carbon monoxide detectors are also often required. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 37 states require carbon monoxide detectors. For the complete list, check out carbon monoxide state statutes.

4. Let Your Tenants Know the Emergency Plan If Your Furnace Breaks

Before winter, it’s best to check your furnace to make sure it’s working. Similarly, communicate your emergency plan if the heat goes out (and you can’t get it repaired immediately). 

If this happens, some landlords pay their tenants to stay in a hotel for the night until the furnace is fixed (if the tenant has nowhere to stay). Remind them how they can contact you if anything goes wrong.

5. Remind Your Tenants to Maintain a Normal Temperature in the Unit

It’s best to inform tenants that they need to maintain a normal temperature in the unit, especially if they plan to vacation. Tenants might want to lower the temperature to save money on energy bills, but they shouldn’t lower it below 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

For one, you don’t want your pipes to freeze. Even though the freezing temperature is 32 degrees, it’s best to be overly cautious about retaining heat in the unit, so the pipes never freeze.

Second, you want the temperature to stay the same, as temperature fluctuations can cause wood (among other materials) to expand and contract. This can cause floors, doors, and crown molding to crack.

Sending a quick reminder to your tenants about keeping the temperature 55 degrees or above is a smart way to ensure your property isn’t damaged.

6. Check for Cracks 

Cracks and leaks can allow cold air and moisture to enter the property, which can require the furnace to work harder than it needs to. For that reason, check for signs of cracks to cover and ensure you have enough insulation to reduce the chance of cold air from entering. 

This task is often done during the fall but check again in case you missed anything. 

7. Prepare End of Year Financial Information

Toward the end of the year, it’s a good idea to organize your operating expenses. You can do this by gathering receipts related to your property. Expenses may include:

  • Rental advertising
  • Auto and travel
  • Cleaning and maintenance
  • Commissions
  • Depreciation
  • Landlord insurance
  • Interest
  • Legal or other professional fees
  • Management fees
  • Mortgage interest paid to banks
  • Property taxes
  • Utilities
  • Maintenance expenses

One way to organize your expenses is by logging maintenance costs through Avail maintenance requests, which automatically populate the rental property accounting dashboard. With the Avail Rental Property Accounting tool, you can see how much you’ve spent on each rental property to help you prepare for tax season. 

You can also add one-time transactions to keep your income and expenses in one platform. Once you’re ready to file your taxes, you can export the dashboard as a spreadsheet to edit further or share with a tax professional.

8. Winterize the Internal and External Pipes

Cold temperatures can increase the chances of your pipes freezing and bursting, which can be stressful for tenants and costly to repair. To avoid this, winterize the internal and external pipes or hire a professional to complete this step.

For outside hoses and spigots, detach any hose connections to drain all the liquid before storing the hoses away. You will also need to turn off the water supply and ensure no water remains that can potentially freeze the pipes in the future. 

Track Maintenance Requests With Avail 

Hopefully, you’ll be set for a smooth winter after following these steps — but it’s never a bad idea to plan for the coming months. To know what to look for, use a winter rental property maintenance checklist that can track the condition of your rentals and log any associated maintenance expenses. 

You can also use Avail maintenance tracking software to log your work for each property, which contractor you hired, and how much you had to pay to resolve the issue — for free. 

Create an account to get started.