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The LeaseRooster blog
What we are learning about running rentals, plus product news from the LeaseRooster team.
Posts
101 posts-
Two trades, one property, and the day that goes wrong
A kitchen job with a plumber, an electrician, and a cabinet installer fails on sequencing, not on skill. How to order the trades, who owns the schedule, and what to do when the second vendor finds the first one's mistake. Blog post -
Repair or improvement? The question your invoice should answer
A deductible repair and a capitalized improvement can be the same plumber on the same day. The IRS test, the three safe harbors small landlords can elect, and the invoice habit that decides it for you. Money -
Write the emergency maintenance policy before you need it
At 2am nobody reads a lease. What decides how an emergency goes is whether your tenant already knows the number to call and you already know who answers. A working policy, the lease language that supports it, and the four failures it prevents. Laws and rules -
Where repair receipts go to die, and how to stop losing them
Almost every landlord loses money at tax time to invoices they cannot find, cannot allocate to a unit, or cannot tell apart from a capital improvement. Three habits that fix it, and the 1099 threshold that just changed. Money -
When to fix it yourself and when to call somebody
The DIY question is not about skill. It is about liability, licensing thresholds, what your hour is worth, and whether you will be around next time it breaks. A decision rule, and the four jobs to never do yourself. Money -
Your maintenance spreadsheet is fine until it isn't
A spreadsheet is a genuinely good maintenance tracker for a small portfolio. Here is what it does well, the four failures that show up as you grow, and the honest test for whether you have hit them yet. Money -
Three messages that keep a repair from becoming a complaint
Tenants rarely complain about how long a repair took. They complain about not knowing. Three updates, what each one has to contain, and the scripts you can paste today. Blog post -
The legal case for answering a repair request the same day
Speed on maintenance is not customer service. It is the cheapest defense you have against rent withholding, repair-and-deduct, a habitability claim, and a deposit dispute you cannot document. What the record needs to show, and when it needs to be created. Laws and rules -
Pet deposit, pet fee, or pet rent: which one actually works
The three pet charges behave completely differently under a deposit cap, at move-out, and on your tax return. Here is what each one is, why pet rent has quietly become the default, and where a pet deposit still makes sense. Money -
A tenant disputes your deposit deductions: what to do in the first week
Most disputes arrive as an email a few days after the statement goes out. What you do in that first week decides whether it ends there or in small claims. Here is the response order, the concession that is usually worth making, and what small claims actually looks at. Laws and rules -
Normal wear and tear vs damage: the line landlords keep crossing
Wear is what happens when someone lives in a place. Damage is what happens when something else does. Here is the test that separates them, an item-by-item list for the arguments that actually come up, and the depreciation math that keeps a fair charge fair. Laws and rules -
The maintenance request form that ends the first callback
A maintenance request form is worth having only if it collects enough to dispatch a vendor without a follow-up call. Here are the eleven fields that do that, the three that waste everyone's time, and what to do with the form once a tenant fills it in. Blog post