Minor repair or landlord's problem? How AI makes the right call instantly

It's an ordinary Tuesday and three reports come in. One tenant reports a dripping tap. Another has a blocked drain. A third reports that the sealant around the bathroom tiles is coming loose. Three reports, three responsibility questions. Because who has to fix this: you or the tenant?

This is exactly where the day to day reality of property management sometimes gets stuck. Not with the big defects, those are clear. It's the small, everyday reports where the line between tenant and landlord responsibility sits right on the edge.

The decree that settles it all

The Besluit kleine herstellingen (Minor Repairs Decree) has been in force since 2003 and sets out exactly which repairs are the tenant's responsibility. Under article 7:240 of the Dutch Civil Code, tenants are required to carry out day to day, minor repair work themselves: think of replacing light bulbs, bleeding radiators, keeping drains clear, replacing sealant, and lubricating doors.

That sounds clear enough. Yet the Huurcommissie's (Rent Tribunal) 2024 annual report shows that more than 5,800 tenants opened a defects case, a rise of over 30 percent compared with 2023 and nearly 50 percent more than in 2022. In practice, the line between a 'minor repair' and a 'defect' is blurrier than you'd expect.

The line is vaguer than the law suggests

The problem isn't that property managers don't know the law. The problem is that every report requires interpretation. A blocked drain? Tenant responsibility, unless there's a structural problem in the drainage pipe. Loose sealant? Tenant, if it's routine upkeep, but landlord if there's an underlying damp problem in the structure.

That nuance takes time. And with a portfolio of hundreds or thousands of properties, and reports coming in daily by email, phone and app, it's impossible to weigh up every case carefully. Staff make judgement calls. Sometimes right, sometimes wrong. And when those judgement calls consistently lean the same way, you build up conflict.

What AI does differently

TenantSupport.io processes incoming repair reports and checks them against the Besluit kleine herstellingen immediately. When a tenant submits a report, the system automatically classifies the repair: does this fall within the tenant's legal responsibility, or is it a defect that sits with you as landlord or manager?

That classification isn't based on a simple list of keywords, but on the full context of the report: the type of repair, the description, and the legal criteria set out in the decree. The tenant gets an answer straight away that fits their situation. If the repair is their responsibility, that's explained clearly, including the legal basis. If it falls outside their responsibility, the report is forwarded immediately as a work order.

Less discussion, faster resolution

The benefit works both ways. For you, it means reports that are the tenant's responsibility don't end up cluttering the work order queue unnecessarily. That saves time and money. For the tenant, it means getting clarity straight away, without waiting for a staff member to assess the report.

Clarity at the start of a report prevents most conflicts. The rise in defects cases at the Huurcommissie suggests that clarity is often missing in current practice. The law has been around for more than twenty years. The question is whether you apply it actively to every report, or only after a tenant has run out of patience.