Maintenance Request Form and Repair Log

What this is for

Repair requests arrive by text at 11 p.m., in a hallway conversation, on a sticky note under the door. Half of them are forgotten by the landlord and the other half are remembered differently by the tenant. A written request form and a log that follows each job from the first report to "fixed" give both sides the same version of events: what was wrong, when you heard about it, when someone came, and what it cost.

The PDF has two pages. The maintenance request form is for tenants. It opens with an emergency box telling them to call, not write, for a gas smell, flooding, no heat in freezing weather or sparks, and 911 if anyone is in danger. Below that are the tenant’s contact details, the room or location, when the problem started, a large box to describe it, and an access section: permission to enter with notice, a request to arrange a time, and a note about pets. An office-use strip at the bottom records when you received it, who it was assigned to, when it was scheduled and completed, the cost, and when the tenant was told. The second page is a repair log with one row per request: Reported, Unit, Problem, Urgent, Scheduled, Completed, Done by, Cost and Notes / invoice #.

The Excel version turns the log into a working list. Each row has a Status dropdown (Open, Scheduled, Waiting on parts, Done) and a Days open column that counts itself: days since the report while the job is open, and the total once it is complete. An open job older than the limit on the Settings tab, seven days to start with, turns amber, and an urgent job that is not done shows red. The total repair cost for the year sits at the top of the Log tab.

How to fill it in

1. Print the request form and give a few copies to each tenant at move-in, or email the PDF so they can print or fill it in. Write your phone number in the emergency box first; the blank there is the one that matters most.
2. Tell tenants the form is the normal way to ask for repairs, and that emergencies are a phone call. A text or email is fine too, as long as it ends up on the log.
3. When a request comes in, however it arrives, fill in the office-use strip with the Received date, and add a row to the log the same day: Reported, Unit, a short Problem description, and Urgent Y or N.
4. In the Excel log, set Status to Open. Days open starts counting from the Reported date. Answer the tenant quickly, ideally within a day or two, even if it is only to say when someone can come.
5. Check the access section before anyone goes in. If the tenant ticked "Please contact me to arrange a time", call first. Either way, give whatever notice your state and local rules require for entry; the notice of entry letter is set up for that.
6. As the job moves, update Status to Scheduled or Waiting on parts, and fill in the Scheduled date on the paper form. Whoever does the work goes in Done by, whether that is you, a handyman or a company.
7. When the tenant confirms the problem is fixed, fill in Completed and Cost, set Status to Done, and write the invoice number in Notes / invoice #. Days open then stops counting and shows the total time the job took.
8. Copy each repair cost into your rental income and expense tracker. Large jobs, like a new water heater rather than a new valve, may be improvements rather than repairs for tax purposes: the IRS says repairs can generally be deducted, but improvements must be capitalized and depreciated. Mark those in Notes for your tax preparer.

A filled-in example

Common mistakes

• Letting requests live in your text messages. Texts get buried, and nobody can total them at tax time. Whatever channel it arrives on, it goes on the log the same day.
• Going quiet while waiting for a contractor. Tenants are far more patient with "the part arrives Thursday" than with silence. Update them when the Status changes and note the date you did.
• Entering without checking the access section or giving notice. Even for a repair the tenant asked for, entry rules may still apply. Check your state and local rules and use a written notice when in doubt.
• Closing the row when the worker leaves rather than when the tenant confirms. A leak that comes back two days later is the same job, not a new one. Wait for a yes, then mark it Done.
• Skipping the Cost column on jobs you did yourself. Write down materials and a short description. The receipts belong in the tracker, and the pattern of small jobs tells you when something needs replacing.