Why a Leak Log Is Essential for Community Management

A community leak log shared with your incoming board members and community management team is an easy way to help preserve your community’s value, every owner’s investment, and residents’ health.

Community managers or maintenance staff should use the leak log to record every leak and plumbing issue along with related costs. In addition, boards and managers can use it to ensure that the piping in the community is maintained, repaired, and replaced in a timely manner.

Some Leak Log Best Practices

• While the board and property management team share responsibility for their community’s leak log, community managers typically take the lead in keeping it current. They often field calls from homeowners, handle the responses, and interface with the maintenance crews.
• At regular intervals, the board and community management team should review the leak log together. For example, they can use it to set a realistic maintenance budget and to inform reserve studies and capital improvement planning.
• Ensure that sharing the log is part of any board or management transition. This way, no matter how often people change roles, the association has quick access to its plumbing history.

Pick Your Format

Your leak log’s format comes down to personal preference. Some find that a paper log printed from a PDF, for example, is easier to fill out and access. Others prefer a spreadsheet or similar digital document for easy data entry and simpler sharing through email or an internal network. Some teams take a hybrid approach, logging incidents by paper and later entering the data electronically.

No matter what form your tracker takes, use it to record all leaks, big or small. Even seemingly minor incidents can help the experts pinpoint major issues.