Guide for property managers
What counts as a maintenance emergency?
By Andy Norman, Antek Automation. Published .
Last updated
Short answer
The short answer
A maintenance emergency is a problem that threatens safety, risks serious damage to the property, or leaves a home without a basic service such as heat, water or a working toilet. Flooding, gas, fire, sewage backups, electrical hazards and no heat in cold weather are on most lists. Most other repairs can wait for business hours.
Why does the definition matter?
To a tenant at 2am, every problem feels urgent. To your on-call tech, a call about a squeaky door is a night of sleep lost. Without a written list, whoever answers the phone decides, and they decide differently each time.
One manager on BiggerPockets put the line simply: "If the property isn't flooded, frozen, burning, or housing someone dead, we usually don't need to know about it until business hours the next day." Another, managing almost 350 rentals, reported fewer than four emergency calls a month, about half of them lockouts.
A written list fixes both problems. Real emergencies get a call tonight, and everything else is logged for the morning, the same way every time.
Sources: BiggerPockets forum, answering service recommendations, checked 14 November 2026; BiggerPockets forum, after-hours call center thread, checked 14 November 2026
A template emergency list
Start from this list and change it for each property. "Your call" rows are the ones managers set differently.
| Problem | Treat as | Typical rule |
|---|---|---|
| Fire or smoke | 911 first | Tell the caller to get out and call 911. Then call the on-call manager. |
| Gas smell | 911 first | Tell the caller to leave and call 911 or the gas company from outside. Then call on-call. |
| Flooding, burst pipe or active leak | Emergency | Call on-call now. Ask where the water is and whether it is reaching another unit. |
| Sewage backup | Emergency | Call on-call now. |
| No heat in cold weather | Emergency | Set your own outdoor temperature line for each property. |
| No water to the home | Emergency | Call on-call now, after checking it is not a citywide outage. |
| Electrical hazard | Emergency | Sparking, burning smell, exposed wires or water near power. Call on-call now. |
| Door or window that will not lock | Emergency | A security problem. Call on-call now. |
| Only toilet not working or overflowing | Emergency | If there is a second working toilet, it can usually wait. |
| Lockout | Your call | Send on-call staff, give a locksmith list, or ask them to call in the morning. |
| No hot water | Your call | A common rule: wait until morning unless it affects a whole building. |
| Air conditioning not working | Your call | Decide by heat and by resident. Extreme heat or a medically vulnerable resident is a reason to act tonight. |
| Fridge, oven or dishwasher failure | Next business day | Log the details and the unit for the morning. |
| Slow drain, running toilet, dripping tap | Next business day | Log the details for the morning. |
| Noise or neighbor complaint | Next business day | Not maintenance. Log it, and if someone feels unsafe, tell them to call 911. |
Template only. Check your local codes and lease, and set the list for each property.
How long do you have to make a repair?
It depends on the state, and the clock usually starts when the tenant notifies you. Two examples, from official sources:
Texas
The Texas Attorney General says the law presumes seven days to be a reasonable time to repair a condition that affects health or safety after the tenant gives notice, though the landlord can rebut that presumption.
Source: Texas Attorney General, Renters rights, checked 14 November 2026
California
The California Department of Real Estate says the law usually considers 30 days reasonable, but a shorter period may be, depending on the situation: for a broken furnace in very cold weather, one to two days may be reasonable.
Source: California Department of Real Estate, Dealing with repairs, checked 14 November 2026
General information, not legal advice. Rules differ by state and city. Check the law where your properties are.
How do you make the list work at 2am?
A list only helps if whoever answers the phone uses it. Give it to your answering service, set it per property, and decide who gets called if the on-call tech does not pick up. That is what MaeDay does: see how emergency answering works.
Quick answers
Is no hot water a maintenance emergency?
Is AC not working a maintenance emergency?
Is a clogged toilet an emergency?
Is a lockout an emergency?
Sources
- BiggerPockets forum, answering service recommendations, checked 14 November 2026
- BiggerPockets forum, after-hours call center thread, checked 14 November 2026
- Texas Attorney General, Renters rights, checked 14 November 2026
- California Department of Real Estate, Dealing with repairs, checked 14 November 2026
When it's a mayday, Mae answers.
On a 20-minute setup call we go through your properties, your emergency list and who is on call. You leave with a plan and a price.