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What Qualifies as an Emergency Maintenance Request?

Rental home resident holding a bucket under a water leak.Several property managers realize they have to respond quickly when a resident calls with an emergency maintenance request. However, which maintenance requests are emergencies that require immediate attention, and which are less urgent? This is one of the trickier questions that property owners encounter since some problems, even those that bring annoyance or troublesomeness, are not true emergencies. In contrast, other maintenance issues are critical enough to be addressed immediately or risk violating Landlord/Tenant laws or habitability codes. Being aware of how to distinguish between the two can help you safely handle all your renter’s maintenance requests.

What defines an emergency repair?

One way to know when you have a true emergency on your hands or not is to think about to what degree the maintenance issue could cause injury, severe property damage, or put your resident’s health and safety in danger. Any issue that would match into this category would commonly be considered an emergency. Common emergencies include:

  • Gas Leak
  • Frozen or Broken Water Lines
  • Flooding or Water Emergencies
  • Fire
  • Carbon Monoxide Detection
  • Sewer Back-up
  • No Heat in Cold Weather
  • No Air Conditioning in Extremely Hot Temperatures
  • Extended Power Outage
  • Intruder Break-In

Determining an Emergency from Non-Emergency

It is crucial to be aware that certain maintenance items may be emergencies under one set of conditions but not another. For instance, a broken air conditioner is not an emergency during winter. However, it is undeniably in the midst of a heatwave where temperatures reach dangerous levels.

Failing to respond immediately to emergencies like these – counting those that happen in the middle of the night – could violate habitability laws and, ultimately, bring serious legal trouble. This is particularly the case if your disinterest prompts your tenant to take matters into their own hands and arrange or make the repairs themselves.

Non-Emergency Maintenance Types

However, other maintenance issues that, although annoying, are not usually emergencies unless extenuating circumstances apply. For illustration, a malfunctioning appliance, cold water, or minor leaks may be troublesome for your residents but generally fall under the category of an emergency repair. These maintenance issues must be reported as regular maintenance requests, which you can look after during business hours.

For rental property owners, familiarizing themselves with what constitutes an emergency maintenance issue and how to respond appropriately is a crucial component of efficient property management. If you find it difficult to respond promptly to such inquiries or if you have other obligations that require your attention, it might be best to hire a quality property management company servicing the Burbank area and its surrounding areas. Contact us online or call 509-572-5440 for further details about what Real Property Management Tri-Cities offers rental property owners like you.

Originally Published on July 2, 2021

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