When Auckland landlords search for help with tenant maintenance requests, they are usually tired of being the call centre. Climber takes the request off your phone. Tenants lodge it online, with photos, any hour of the day. We decide if it is an emergency, urgent or routine. You hear about it with enough detail to say yes or no, except when waiting would make the house unsafe.
How does a tenant report a repair?
Through our maintenance portal, which tenants know as Tapi. They can also email or call. The useful ones include photos or a short video. A sentence that says 'the tap is weird' is hard to price. A photo of the leak under the sink is not.
Every request is logged. That record sits with the tenancy, so the next person on the team can see it. You are not relying on someone remembering a text from Thursday. If you ask what happened to the hot water cylinder, the file should answer that.
What is an emergency and what can wait?
Not every job should start before you have seen a price. Some should.
- Emergency, we move immediately: burst pipes, gas leaks, electrical hazards, broken locks and flooding. You are told. We do not wait for a reply before making the house safe.
- Urgent, we aim to respond within 24 to 48 hours: no heating, no hot water, a major leak or a landlord-supplied appliance that has died.
- Routine: minor leaks, small cosmetic issues and garden work that the agreement puts on the owner. These wait for your approval and a quote.
Healthy Homes items sit with the landlord. Insulation, heating, ventilation, moisture and drainage standards are not the tenant's job to fund. If an inspection or a repair shows a gap, we tell you plainly rather than hoping the next winter is mild.
Who pays, the owner or the tenant?
The owner looks after the structure, the weathertightness and the appliances the landlord supplied. The tenant looks after careless damage, things they broke and the ordinary jobs their agreement gives them. A blocked drain from a toy is different from a pipe that failed because it was old. We say which one we think it is, with photos, before anyone argues about the invoice.
Water is a common mix-up. Fixed water charges sit with the landlord. Usage charges sit with the tenant and we invoice those with a clear reference. Mixing the two is how a simple bill becomes a complaint.
What do you see before the tradie starts?
For anything that is not an emergency, you get the description, the photos and a quote from a trade we already use. You approve it. We then book access with the tenant and give proper notice. When the work is done we check it, ask the tenant to confirm and send you the invoice with the photos.
That handoff is where a single property manager gets stuck. They are good at talking to owners and slow at booking three trades in one afternoon. Climber keeps maintenance coordination with people who do that job. Your property manager is not also trying to be the plumber's receptionist.
A quote should name the job. 'Fix bathroom' is not a quote. 'Replace the failed mixer and reseal the shower tray' is. If two prices come back far apart, we ask why before you pick the cheap one. A repair that fails in a month costs more than the dearer one that holds. You still choose. We just do not hand you a number with no sentence attached. You should not have to chase the update either. If the trade moves the booking, we tell you the new day before you have to ask.
What if the tenant reports the same thing twice?
Then the first job was not finished or was not explained. We would rather see a second ticket than a tenant who stops reporting leaks. Repeat requests get matched to the old one. If a trade has to return, you know why. If the tenant is reporting wear that is not a repair, we tell them and we tell you.
The step by step version is in our maintenance guide. Tenants can also read how to lodge a job on the maintenance page. Owners should not need either of those pages once the tenancy is with us. The request comes in, you see the ones that need a decision and the urgent ones do not wait on a group text.
Questions landlords ask us
Can tenants log a repair after hours?
Yes. The portal is open all day. Emergencies are acted on. Routine jobs wait for a quote and your approval.
Do I approve every repair?
You approve non-emergency work. If the house is unsafe, we make it safe and tell you, rather than waiting overnight for a reply.
Will I get the invoice and photos?
Yes. Completed work comes back with the invoice, photos and a note of what was done.
If you want this handled for a property in Auckland, talk to the Climber team or read how residential property management works with us.