Apartment Trends Magazine August 2019 | Page 46

"We already have a communications channel for maintenance requests, so why would we want to set up a second channel?" tenant leases. However, landlords can direct tenants where to send notices. To address the GAP lease issue landlords can let tenants know where to send communications. Landlords can accomplish this by publishing a simple statement to tenants: eff ective August 1, 2019, you should send us any statutorily required notice to us at the online tenant/ maintenance portal or at [insert appropriate email address]. Giving notice to GAP lease tenants should substantially increase tenant compliance. When tenants direct communications to a single source, landlords are in a better position to comply. The disadvantage is that you can’t make GAP lease tenants comply and some will not. Further, some landlords may be concerned that publishing a statement will increase tenant claims. This is for individual landlords to determine. However, in our experience, the red fl ag theory is over-hyped. Tenants either have an issue or they don’t, and the ones that tend to fi le claims are going to do so no matter what you do. Many landlords already have electronic communication systems designed to handle tenant maintenance requests. If you don’t, you will need to set one up right away. If PRESENTING SPONSOR: you have a communication system, you will need to analyze its capabilities to meet statutory requirements. If you have a system, you may want to consider the advantages of deploying a second communications channel specifi cally designated for statutory notices. We already have a communications channel for maintenance requests, so why would we want to set up a second channel? A second designated communication channel for WHB and BBB communications has several advantages that you may not have considered. If you have a maintenance communication pipeline, it already has a certain fl ow because tenants are currently using it to make maintenance requests. When WHB and BBB communications are added to this fl ow, they may become indistinguishable from routine maintenance requests. Since both laws mandate specifi c action by a landlord when a tenant gives electronic notice, somebody 2019 Chili Cookoff is going to have to monitor the communication pipeline, identify the WHB and BBB requests, and initiate the proper response. Since tenants won’t necessarily accurately label maintenance requests and your current pipeline regularly has hundreds or thousands of maintenance requests, this could be a formidable task. These issues are potentially solved by having a second communications channel specifi cally designated for WHB and BBB claims. With a second channel, staff doesn’t have to pick out the WHB and BBB claims from routine maintenance claims. A second designated channel also has another signifi cant advantage. Liability under both the WHB and the BBB is initiated by the tenant giving “proper” notice. If the tenant doesn’t send the notice to the designated electronic address, the tenant hasn’t given proper notice and landlord’s obligations and liability doesn’t commence. However, several potential problems could arise with running a second communications pipeline designated only for statutory notices. Tenants may not be able to distinguish between routine maintenance claims and statutory claims (WHB and BBB). As a result, tenants may clog your statutory pipeline HOST SPONSOR: Saturday, October 12, 2019 11am-3pm Redi Carpet Warehouse 44 | TRENDS AUGUST 2019 www.aamdhq.org