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Habitia Help

Submitting a maintenance request (tenant view)

The most common reason a tenant opens their Habitia portal — after paying rent — is to report something that’s broken. This article walks through what they do; use it to coach a tenant who’s never submitted a request, or to understand what’s coming in from your side.

The landlord-side companion is Tenant-submitted maintenance requests.

1. The tenant opens Maintenance

From the portal nav, the tenant clicks Maintenance. They see a list of their open and recent work orders (empty at first).

A New request button sits in the top-right.

Screenshot: tenant Maintenance page with New request button

2. They fill in the request

Tapping New request opens a form:

  • Issue (required) — short title. “Sink is dripping”, “AC stopped working”, “Stove burner won’t light”.
  • Description — what’s happening in more detail. When it started, what they tried.
  • Category — Plumbing, HVAC, Electrical, Appliance, etc.
  • Priority — Low, Normal, High, Urgent.
  • Room (optional) — which room. Pre-populated with the rooms in their unit (kitchen, master bathroom, etc.).
  • Asset (optional) — which specific appliance/fixture. Helpful for “fridge”, “water heater”, etc.
  • Photos — capture or upload images. Strongly encourage this. A photo answers ten of your follow-up questions before you ask.

3. They submit

Tapping Submit sends the request. They see it appear in their list with a Status: Open badge.

Behind the scenes, this creates a work order on your side (Tenant-submitted maintenance requests).

4. The thread

Each work order in the tenant’s list has a message thread. Tapping it opens a conversation view where the tenant can:

  • See messages you’ve sent (“Roberto will come Tuesday between 10 and 12”).
  • Send a reply (“Tuesday morning is fine, please call when you’re 15 minutes away”).
  • Attach more photos as the issue evolves (“The leak got bigger overnight”).

You see the same thread on your side from the work order detail page. Everything stays attached to the same work order — no email tracking, no lost photos.

5. Tenant sees status updates

As you (or your vendor) update the work order status, the tenant’s view updates:

  • Scheduled — they see the scheduled date.
  • In progress — they see a “work has started” indicator.
  • Completed — they see your Resolution notes (“Replaced faucet cartridge”).

If you cancel the request (rare, but it happens — duplicate request, not actually an issue), they see a cancelled status and (ideally) a note explaining why.

What tenants can’t do

The tenant cannot:

  • Re-assign the work order to a different vendor.
  • Edit the priority once submitted (they can ask you to change it in the thread).
  • See costs (materials, labor).
  • See work orders for other tenants or units.

These are all on purpose — the tenant only sees what’s about their own home.

What if a tenant doesn’t have portal access?

If they don’t have a Habitia account, they’ll call or text. You log the work order yourself (Logging a work order) and follow up via whatever channel they prefer.

What’s next