Season by Season Rental Property Maintenance Checklist (+ Free Download)

 

“The host was really lovely but the dishwasher was leaking and the lights in the bathroom were out.” 

If this admittedly fake but believable Airbnb review sends chills down your spine, then you know how important it is to consistently welcome guests in well-maintained and clean properties.

But when you’re managing your own property or you live far away, things can easily get out of hand. Here’s where checklists can help out. Rental property maintenance checklists save you time, help reduce your overall expenses, and could even increase your rental income.

In this article, you’ll read about some of the benefits of outsourcing maintenance and cleaning, the most important maintenance tips to follow, and how property management software can help your passive income actually stay passive.

If you don’t have time to read the whole article, use the links below to jump to the section you’re looking for:

1. Raise your rental income with a rental property maintenance checklist 
2. Minimize mistakes and improve the guest experience by outsourcing cleaning and maintenance
3. What to include on your vacation rental maintenance checklist
4. Your property management maintenance checklist

 

Raise your income with a rental property maintenance checklist

When you manage vacation rentals all by yourself, some maintenance tasks are bound to slip through the cracks. 

For example, if you’re swamped with other responsibilities, you might forget to inspect under your sink for water damage. This increases the risk of hazardous mold or even flooding. And no guest wants to spend their vacation in a property with mold build-up. 

If not completed thoroughly, maintenance and cleaning jobs can really knock you off your hosting game and hurt your ratings and rental income. But a maintenance checklist helps you keep on top of your tasks, stay consistent, and make sure your property is always in tip-top shape. Here’s how it helps:

• Saves you time. A detailed list helps you stay focused and consistent. Which means you’ll never have to frantically think of tasks that need doing every time a booking comes in. Plus, a routine maintenance checklist means you can schedule maintenance duties with vendors well in advance. 
• Reduces your expenses. If you have a comprehensive list to follow, it’s unlikely that you’ll forget to flush the water heater or drain and store hoses properly. These are tasks that if done regularly, keep your property’s future repairs to a minimum and reduce your expenses in the long term.
• Helps increase your rental income. If you’re not maintaining and cleaning your property well enough, you’re telling your guests that their safety and positive experience aren’t your top priority. And if there’s yellow caulk in your bathtub or shower, your guests might not give you a 5-star rating for cleanliness. Your checklist helps you get ahead of these issues before guests even step into your house. Remember, a high overall rating means more bookings and more money in your pocket.

Pro tip: one of the main reasons guests rate hosts poorly is because their properties fail to meet expectations when it comes to cleanliness and maintenance. So if you’re trying to become an Airbnb Superhost, a good checklist is your best friend.

Minimize mistakes by outsourcing cleaning and maintenance

Your property isn’t that much different from a living, breathing, being and it needs to be constantly maintained to stay healthy. But unless you’re an experienced, full-time, property manager, it can easily become too much. 

But there’s one way to save you time, money, and energy, and potentially grow your business: outsourcing your vacation rental cleaning.

 You should hire a cleaning and maintenance team if you

1. Want to build a scalable business.
2. Aren’t looking to hire a property manager.
3. Can’t dedicate all your time to your vacation rental business.
4. Don’t live near your property.

By outsourcing, you’re minimizing mistakes and providing a more positive guest experience. You’re also protecting your real estate investment by having it regularly, and professionally, maintained.

Property management software to the rescue!

Trying to manage your workflow manually is more trouble than it’s worth. But with the right tools and software, you can coordinate staff with a touch of a button, and automate your processes from afar.

No more worrying about your staff having access to the property, the windows being spotless, the lightbulbs working, or scheduling the deep clean and maintenance check that’s been due for a while. 

Tools like Operto Teams and Breezeway automate your scheduling, manage your operations, and keep everything in one place. Work orders enter the system as tickets, and cleaning and maintenance tasks are then auto-generated based on bookings. 

For example, when a guest checks out, a cleaning and maintenance check gets scheduled automatically and put in your master calendar. Staff can then report things like a faulty hot tub valve or damaged shingles by adding descriptions and photos. Maintenance issues can be marked as urgent so your team is deployed before the next guest checks in.

If this process still sounds time-consuming, you can use a tool like Jetstream to connect your tech stack and close the bridge between guests and staff with 24/7 guest communications. 

This means Jetstream’s team of multi-lingual guest-facing agents will be the ones handling the communication between guests and your “boots on the ground” cleaning and maintenance team.

Pro tip: schedule routine maintenance jobs like quarterly air conditioning system checks as a repeating task so you stay on top of preventative maintenance and have one less thing to worry about.

What to include on your vacation rental maintenance checklist

Whether you manage a boutique hotel or list your second home on platforms like Airbnb, you need a maintenance checklist to save you mental energy and help you stay on track. 

Some tasks on your checklist need to be completed after every check-out, while others need to be done monthly, seasonally, or annually. We’ve ordered the checklist below by task frequency, to help you navigate it easily.

Remember: some of these checklist items might not apply to your case, and there might be some additional jobs that your property requires. Use this checklist as a place to start, and add and remove items to match your needs.

Per booking

• Dust. Don’t just stop at dusting surfaces and the tops of furniture. Check all the nooks and crannies for cobwebs and get rid of them. Dust ceiling fans, knick-knacks, blinds, windowsills, and ledges.  
• Sweep. Sweep the floors and carpets inside, outside, and in the common areas. Just because the common areas are also shared with other tenants, doesn’t mean your guests would enjoy seeing dirt on the laundry room floor. 
• Vacuum. In addition to vacuuming the floor and under the beds, move the furniture around if you can and vacuum those hidden spots. 
• Mop. To bring all these last steps together, mop the floors to catch any dirt that might’ve been left behind. 
• Disinfect. Make sure to disinfect high-touch surfaces like doorknobs, TV remotes, and counters.
• Load, run, and empty the dishwasher. Clean, disinfect, and arrange all the dishes, utensils, pots, and pans in a visually pleasing way before your next guest checks in. The aesthetics aren’t required, but these little details can be the difference between a 4-star and 5-star review.
• Discard leftover food. If the seal isn’t broken and it’s not past the expiry date, you can choose to either donate the food or just keep it in the pantry or fridge for the next guest
• Empty trash and recycling. Ensure there’s no trash left anywhere else on the property, clean and sanitize the trash can, and leave out a new trash bag. 
• Clean mirrors, windows, and doors. If your property is pet-friendly, remember that you or your cleaning staff need to use pet-friendly cleaning products.
• Check and refill soap dispensers. Do this in the bathroom and kitchen alike. 
• Clean kitchen appliances. Get rid of all the oil buildup and food on the stove, inside the oven, microwave, toaster, and coffee maker. 
• Change sheets and pillowcases. Wash your linens at the highest possible temperature. Also check your sheets, mattress, blankets, and pillows for possible wear and tear and replace them if necessary.
• Clear out items left behind. You should always make your guests feel like they’re the only ones that have ever stayed at your property. So clear out any items belonging to previous guests.
• Wash and change towels. If there are any stains you can’t get rid of, bleach them if they’re white or replace them with new ones. 
• Replenish toilet paper. Always leave extra rolls for guests in the cabinets just in case.
• Clean and sanitize the bathroom. Scrub and disinfect bathtubs, showers, toilets, and sinks. 
• Check for fallen leaves and weeds. Rake leaves, remove fallen branches, and weed and water your garden if necessary.

Pro tip: always provide your guests with blow dryers and, as an added detail, include different attachments for different kinds of hair. It’s the little things.

 

Monthly 

• Test common area lights. Check all the lights and replace burnt-out bulbs. 
• Confirm household items are functioning. Make sure all the appliances, electronics, and remotes are working properly and that nothing needs replacing. 
• Check, clean, and refill pest control baits and traps. If you notice even the smallest signs of a pest infestation, contact a professional exterminator as soon as possible.
• Control gutters and downspouts. Remove any leaves or debris to ensure water is being diverted from your property.
• Inspect carbon monoxide and smoke detectors. Make sure these detectors are properly functioning and replace any batteries if necessary.

 

Seasonal

• Look for water damage and leaks. Avoid possible flooding, mold, and expensive repairs by carefully inspecting your property for water damage and leaks.
• Replace air conditioner and furnace filters. Do this every three months for preventative maintenance. 
• Maintain cooling and heating systems. These systems are expensive to repair and change, so maintaining them every season helps reduce your overall expenses. 
• Test the thermostats. This keeps your property energy-efficient and eco-friendly.
• Inspect pipes. Cold temperatures can cause abnormalities, damage, or cracks in pipes. 
• Prevent frozen pipes. Consider installing pipe insulation to protect against damaged pipes.
• Change the dishwasher filter. This prevents bits of food from gathering inside the dishwasher, rotting, and giving off bad odors. Check the owner’s manual for more details on your specific dishwasher.

 

Annual

• Flush water heater. Do this at least once or twice a year and remove any sediment.
• Inspect and refresh shower caulk and grout. Old caulk isn’t a major problem, but it doesn’t look good and might negatively affect your ratings. In some severe cases though, water can get inside the walls and cause damage. 
• Check the expiration date on the fire extinguisher. If your fire extinguisher is expired, have a certified professional recharge or replace it asap.
• Look for exterior mold. It’s not always what’s on the inside that counts. Check the exterior for molding and take care of it quickly. 
• Inspect plumbing and electrical. Ensure your guests’ safety and security by having a professional check-up of your property’s connections, wiring, and plumbing.

Your property management maintenance checklist

DIY and remote property management can get especially frustrating when maintenance tasks start falling through the cracks and your ratings start to suffer. 

That’s understandable. People aren’t made to juggle so many things. Following a maintenance checklist can save you time and mental energy, and help you keep on top of your tasks.

And if you decide to outsource your cleaning and maintenance, you can share your checklist with your team so you stay informed and your team is more organized. 

Don’t forget, when you partner with Jetstream, we’ll connect you to powerful scheduling and management tools to help coordinate your team. And we’ll take care of all guest communications so you don’t have to answer queries about spare towels anymore.

If you found our checklist helpful, you can download it as a PDF below, and check off the boxes as you go.

Frequently asked questions about property management maintenance

What is preventive maintenance?

In property management, preventative maintenance means performing routine maintenance tasks on a property and its equipment before there are any actual damages. This prevents any unplanned and costly repairs in the future. 

What are some examples of preventative maintenance activities?

Some examples of preventive maintenance include

1. Cleaning gutters 
2. Replacing dishwasher filters 
3. Inspecting for leaky faucets 
4. Testing smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors
5. Servicing the HVAC systems
6. Replacing air filters
7. Having a certified professional recharge fire extinguishers
   
   

What are the steps for creating a maintenance routine checklist?

You can create a maintenance routine checklist by

1. Defining your maintenance goals 
2. Documenting the current state of your equipment
3. Noting any signs of wear and tear 
4. Researching federal and state regulations and standards 
5. Selecting assets you’re looking to maintain 
6. Outlining routine maintenance tasks for each asset
7. Writing down clear instructions for each task
8. Receiving training and or train your personnel 
9. Tracking your results and adjusting as you go
   
   

Does property management include maintenance?

A property manager’s duties depend on their offered services and contract. However, most property managers handle maintenance requests to make sure the property is always in good condition.