Capture enough context up front
Unit, tenant contact, issue category, description, and photos reduce back-and-forth.
A structured intake form can be lighter than a full portal while still preserving the useful facts.
Record the owner's response
The owner should log who was called, when, and what was expected next.
That turns the request into an operational record instead of a text-message memory.
Connect the invoice later
The maintenance history becomes complete when the vendor invoice is linked back to the tenant issue and asset.
That is the difference between request tracking and building memory.