What is Considered Emergency Rental Maintenance?

If you’re a landlord, it’s important to remember an emergency will happen sooner or later at your rentals. You need a plan in place for how to respond. Knowing what to do lessens the stress for everyone involved and could protect your property from additional damage. 

Many landlords choose to lean on a property management company to help them cope with emergencies. Even so, as the landlord, you can use management help and take additional steps to prepare yourself and your tenants for emergencies.

Know How to Define Maintenance Emergencies

Almost anything that goes wrong can feel like an emergency to a renter. As the landlord, you must decide if something is an emergency or a standard maintenance issue. 

While attentiveness is paramount, treating every situation like an emergency can quickly lead to spending more money on maintenance in a short period than what your budget can handle.

Problems that warrant immediate attention threaten your property with additional costly damage or threaten the health and safety of tenants.

Emergency examples include:

• Loss of safe water supply
• Loss of sewer function
• Burst pipes
• Flooding
• Fire
• Broken doors or windows
• Gas leak
• Mechanical electrical problem
• Roof damage
• Loss of heating/cooling during extreme temperatures
  
  

Work with your property manager to develop a questionnaire that you use when a tenant calls. This questionnaire can determine if the complaint meets the criteria of an emergency. You could also consult with a Dallas property manager regarding guidance about how to screen these calls.

On the other hand, you need to be ready to tell tenants when something is not an emergency. A short-term inconvenience or mild discomfort that does not threaten injury or illness can wait for attention during normal business hours.

For example, a running toilet is an issue, but not one that demands emergency service by property management.

Make Sure Tenants Can Contact You Fast

Open communication between you and your tenants can save everyone many headaches. You can promote this goal by giving tenants a welcome packet with emergency contact information, ideally a 24-hour phone number.

Use the packet to alert people to what an emergency is, such as smelling gas or weird things going on with the electricity.

When tenants face emergiencies, they need a way to call for help immediately. If you live close to your rental, you can provide your number for calling and texting.

However, relying solely on yourself to manage emergencies may not be feasible or desirable. This is why you might want an answering service.

An answering service through your management team can screen calls to find out if a problem is an emergency or can wait.

Have Vendors Ready to Go

Before an emergency arises, make arrangements with service providers like plumbers, electricians, fire and water damage specialists. Having these types of vendors on-call and ready to help can narrow down the critical window of time between the initial emergency and the repair.

Choose companies with proper insurance coverage and good reputations. By establishing relationships with them, you will know exactly who to call during an emergency.

Always Document Emergencies 

Good record keeping prevents many problems. When responding to emergencies, write down when a call came in and who you called to respond. You may wish to visit the rental and take pictures.

Documentation is important during rental emergencies. Your insurance or a tenant's insurance may become involved. Your records may also shield you from liability stemming from accusations of not attending to a safety hazard.

Effective Emergency Maintenance

Classic Property Management plays an integral role in many Dallas landlords’ emergency plans. We have relationships with service providers who can take care of problems on short notice. To protect your property and profits, reach out to us with your questions.

We’re ready to help you make your rental properties a pillar example in your community.