Maintenance Request Tracking for Small Landlords (2026): Free and Paid Options

With a few units, maintenance requests usually arrive by text, call or email and get lost there. A request tracker gives tenants one place to report a problem with photos, and gives you a record of what was reported, when and what you did. That's useful for repairs, deposit disputes and taxes.

For most landlords with 1–50 units, the tracker built into a free landlord app is enough: TurboTenant, Innago, Avail, Stessa, Rentler and Rentberry all include maintenance requests at no subscription cost. Paid services only make sense when you want someone else to field and coordinate repairs.

Best for: self-managing landlords with 1–50 units who want tenants to report repairs in one place, and remote owners deciding whether to pay for repair coordination.

Everything below comes from each vendor's own pages, checked October 28, 2026. We haven't tested these products hands-on.

Free: maintenance requests inside landlord apps

These include maintenance requests alongside rent collection and other landlord tools, at no subscription cost:

If you already collect rent in one of these, turn on its maintenance requests first before adding another tool. Tenants then report repairs in the same app they pay rent in.

Low-cost paid: flat-price apps that include maintenance

• RentRedi: maintenance requests are part of its single plan, $12 a month billed annually with unlimited units. https://rentredi.com/
• Rentroom: maintenance ticketing and vendor management on every plan. Starter is $49.99 a month for up to 15 tenants, and Basic is $74.99 a month for unlimited properties, tenants and users. https://rentroom.com/

Paid: someone else fields and coordinates repairs

If you're remote or don't want 2 a.m. calls, these services handle tenant requests and vendor coordination for you:

• Hemlane: the Essential plan adds 24/7 repair coordination for $28 a month plus $20 per unit. At 5 units that's $128 a month. Visit Hemlane (billed annually; month-to-month costs more)
• Lula: a maintenance coordination service with no subscription fee. It earns on completed work, with a catalog of 450+ flat-rate jobs. Lula says it has no monthly, annual or setup fee and bills each job as a single line item. It's aimed at property managers and owner-operators without in-house technicians. https://www.lula.life/

Usually overkill at 1–50 units

• Property Meld: $2 per unit a month with a $200 monthly minimum, aimed at management companies.
• UpKeep: general maintenance-management (CMMS) software, from $24 per user per month (Essential) to $55 (Premium), built for in-house maintenance teams.
• Latchel: 24/7 resident request handling and vendor dispatch, priced per door through a demo. It's built for property managers, so we don't include it in our small-landlord picks.

What to look for in a request tracker

The free trackers differ less than you'd think. Check these before you choose:

• Photos and descriptions from the tenant. A photo of the leak saves a trip and helps you send the right trade.
• A status the tenant can see, so they don't text you to ask whether you got the request.
• A history per unit. You'll want it for deposit decisions, insurance claims and spotting repeat problems.
• Vendor details. Rentroom lists vendor management, and Hemlane's plans track your preferred service pros and send them work orders.
• Costs tied to the books. If repair bills land in the same ledger as rent, sorting repairs from improvements at tax time is easier.

Paying for coordination: two models

Hemlane and Lula take different approaches:

• Hemlane Essential is a subscription: $28 a month plus $20 per unit at annual-billing rates. Its team fields requests around the clock and coordinates repairs, and its pricing page says repairs are invoiced with no markups.
• Lula charges no subscription and earns on completed jobs, using flat-rate prices from its catalog where the job is listed.

A subscription is easier to budget. Per-job pricing can cost less in a quiet year. Neither publishes which areas its vendor network covers on the pages we read, so ask before you sign up.

How to set up a simple maintenance process

1. Pick one channel. Ask tenants to submit every non-emergency request through the app, with photos.
2. Define emergencies in the lease or welcome letter, such as no heat, active leaks or no water, and give a phone number for those.
3. Log every request, including ones that come by text. The record helps with deposit decisions and with sorting repairs from improvements at tax time. See spreadsheet vs software for Schedule E.
4. Keep a short vendor list (plumber, electrician, HVAC, handyman) with rates.
5. Close the loop. Mark the request done and note the cost and date.
6. Review the log once a year. Repeat requests for the same unit or system, such as a water heater or roof, point to a replacement worth budgeting for. The log also shows which vendors respond quickly and which ones you should replace.
7. Tell tenants how it works at move-in. A one-page note with the app link, the emergency number and expected response times cuts down on texts and calls.

How we checked

On October 28, 2026, we read the pricing and feature pages of TurboTenant, Innago, Avail, Stessa, Rentler, Rentberry, RentRedi, Rentroom, Hemlane, Lula, Property Meld and UpKeep. Feature names are as each vendor describes them; we didn't test request flows. Latchel's current pages show no public price, so we don't quote one. We haven't used these tools with our own rentals, and no vendor paid for placement. Confirm details before you sign up.

FAQ

What's the best free way to track maintenance requests?

Use the tracker in the app you already collect rent with. TurboTenant, Innago, Avail and Stessa all include maintenance requests on free plans.

Do I need separate maintenance software as a small landlord?

Usually not. Dedicated work-order systems such as Property Meld ($200 monthly minimum) and UpKeep (from $24 per user) are built for management companies and in-house teams.

Can someone handle tenant repair calls for me?

Yes. Hemlane's Essential plan adds 24/7 repair coordination, and Lula coordinates jobs with no subscription and earns on completed work.

How much does Hemlane's repair coordination cost?

$28 a month plus $20 per unit at annual-billing rates, or $128 a month at 5 units. Month-to-month billing costs more.

Should I keep maintenance records for taxes?

Yes. A dated record of each repair and its cost helps you sort deductible repairs from improvements that are depreciated. Ask your tax preparer how to treat each one.

Related

• Maintenance software
• Best free landlord software
• Landlord software by unit count
• Short-term rental software (if you also host on Airbnb)
• Airbnb cleaning scheduling software