Tenant calls when the property owner must respond

The decision to make first

A tenant may reasonably expect help while the plumbing business still needs to establish who can authorize the requested service. Capture the service request without asserting that the tenant, landlord or management company is responsible for paying or arranging repairs.

What the handoff should contain

Include the tenant’s callback details, property location, reported issue and any management contact they voluntarily provide for staff review.

Suggested wording to approve

Example wording: “I can pass the issue to our office and note the management contact you have. The team will confirm the arrangements with the appropriate people.”

Test the difficult case

Test a tenant with no owner details, a management company closed overnight and a caller requesting immediate entry while away. Do not turn a missing landlord number into technical advice or a guarantee that the business will attend without approval.

Worked example

Fictional example: A tenant reports a dripping fixture but does not know the property manager’s number. The assistant can preserve the tenant’s callback and the request description without deciding who must pay. The office receives an authorization question to resolve, rather than a completed booking based on an assumption about the tenancy.

Review it in operation

Check whether the record preserves the caller’s request while leaving authorization and access decisions explicitly unresolved for staff.

Check before you launch

• Capture the service request without asserting that the tenant, landlord or management company is responsible for paying or arranging repairs.
• Include the tenant’s callback details, property location, reported issue and any management contact they voluntarily provide for staff review.
• Test a tenant with no owner details, a management company closed overnight and a caller requesting immediate entry while away.
• Check whether the record preserves the caller’s request while leaving authorization and access decisions explicitly unresolved for staff.

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