Maintenance Requests

Overview

To raise a maintenance request, open the property's Maintenance Requests card → click New maintenance request → enter a Title and Category → add a description, supplier and any photos → click Save. Then use the Actions menu to Send to supplier or Request owner approval, and keep everyone posted with Update owner and Update tenant.

Create a maintenance request

Open the property's maintenance card

Open the property and find the Maintenance Requests card, which lists any existing requests for the current tenancy.

Start a new request

Click New maintenance request on that card to open a blank work order for the tenancy.

Enter the title and category

Give the request a short Title (for example "Dishwasher not working") and pick a Category — Plumbing, Electrical, Building, Appliance Repair, Window Repair, Gardening or Other. These two are required. If you choose Appliance Repair, an extra Appliance make and model field appears.

Set the status and supplier

Set the Status (a new request starts at Open) and, if you know who's doing the work, pick a Supplier.

Describe the job and add notes

Fill in the Description, and use Your Notes for your own reference and Notes for supplier for anything the tradesperson needs to know.

Add photos or videos

Under Photos and Videos, upload images or video that show the problem (up to 10 files). Once the request is saved, an Attachments section also lets you Attach file for PDFs, quotes and other documents.

Save

Click Save. The request now appears on the property's Maintenance Requests card and in the maintenance table.

Note: The Status you set decides where the request lives: Completed, Owner Paid Directly and Cancelled move it to the Closed tab, while every other status keeps it under Open.

Set who can see the request and who's kept informed

Decide what suppliers see

Under Tenant Contact Details, tick Show the details of all tenants in this tenancy on the shareable page for this work order? if the supplier needs to contact the tenant directly to arrange access.

Show it in the tenant portal

In the Update Notifications section, tick Visible on tenant portal to let the tenant see this request in their tenant app.

Choose who gets update emails

Leave Keep owner informed and Keep tenant informed ticked for anyone who should be emailed when the request's status changes, then Save.

Note: Visible on tenant portal is off by default. Even with it off, Keep tenant informed still emails the tenant when the status changes — so a tenant can be kept up to date without being able to browse the request in their portal.

Send the request to the supplier

Open the Actions menu

Open the maintenance request and click the Actions button, then choose Send to supplier.

Confirm the send

In the confirmation, click Send. Keyhook emails the request to the selected supplier, and a Sent to supplier banner records when it went out.

Or share the link yourself

To send the details another way (for example by text), copy the Link for supplier shown on the request and send it directly.

Note: After the request has been emailed, a Sent to supplier banner records when it went out, but Send to supplier stays available in the Actions menu — it isn't removed, so you can send it again. The Actions menu also offers Request quotes (to solicit supplier quotes) and Delete (removes the request; can't be undone).

Request owner approval

Start the approval request

On the maintenance request, click Actions and choose Request owner approval to open the Send to property owner window.

Add a note for the owner

Optionally type a message in the Notes field to give the owner context for the job.

Send it

Click Send to owner, then Confirm. The owner is emailed the request and asked to reply to you with their decision, and a Sent to property owner for approval banner records the send.

Note: Use this to get sign-off before spending above the property's Authority to fix limit — the most that can be spent on the owner's behalf without their approval. The owner replies to you directly by email; Keyhook doesn't record their yes/no automatically.

Keep owners and tenants updated as the job progresses

Let Keyhook prompt you on a status change

When you change a request's Status and Save, a Maintenance request updated prompt lists everyone you've kept informed. Click Send update to email them, or Don't send to skip.

Send an update any time

To message someone without changing the status, open Actions and choose Update owner or Update tenant.

Add a note and send

Add any Notes for that recipient and click Send update. The email carries the request's details plus your note; it doesn't overwrite the notes stored on the request.

Note: The update prompt only offers to email the recipients whose Keep owner informed / Keep tenant informed boxes are ticked on the request — turn those on first if someone should be kept in the loop.

Track and merge requests in the maintenance table

Open the maintenance table

Click Maintenance in the left menu for every request across your agency, or use the maintenance table on a single property. Use the Open and Closed tabs to switch between active and finished requests, and the search box to find one.

Select the duplicates to merge

Tick the checkbox on two or more requests for the same job, then click the Merge Maintenance Requests bulk action.

Confirm the merge

Leave Delete old maintenance requests after merging on to remove the originals, then click Confirm merge. The details of the selected requests are combined into one.

Note: On the agency-wide Maintenance table you can only merge requests that belong to the same property; the Closed tab holds requests marked Completed, Owner Paid Directly or Cancelled.

Frequently asked questions

Which fields do I actually have to fill in?

Only Title and Category are required — you can save a request with just those and add the supplier, description, photos and notes later.

What's the difference between "Send to supplier" and the shareable link?

Send to supplier emails the request to the supplier you selected and records that it was sent. The Link for supplier is a shareable URL you can copy and send any way you like — handy for a supplier you haven't set up in Keyhook.

Why can't the tenant see the request in their portal?

Visible on tenant portal is off by default, so the request won't show in the tenant app until you tick it. You can still keep the tenant informed by email with Keep tenant informed even when the portal box is off.

How do I get rid of duplicate requests for the same job?

Open the maintenance table, tick two or more requests, click Merge Maintenance Requests, then Confirm merge. Their details combine into one request. On the agency-wide table the requests must be for the same property.

What do the Open and Closed tabs show?

The Closed tab holds requests with a status of Completed, Owner Paid Directly or Cancelled. Everything else — Open, Awaiting Quotes, Awaiting Approval, Scheduled, In Progress and Awaiting Invoice — sits under Open.