In property management, there’s the certainty that you can expect the unexpected. As a landlord, few things are more stressful than receiving a call from your tenants in the middle of the night about a burst pipe or a broken heater in the winter; however, emergency repairs are part of the job. How you handle an emergency in your rental property can mean the difference between protecting your investment and facing costly damage or even legal issues.
Whether you’re an experienced landlord or just starting in the industry, having a plan for emergency repairs isn’t optional—it’s essential. In this guide, we’ll walk you through our recommendations on how to respond effectively to an emergency repair in your rental property, helping you stay calm when chaos strikes.
How to Handle an Emergency Repair Without Losing Your Mind
Understand What’s Considered An Emergency
While promptly addressing your tenant’s maintenance issues is key to running a successful rental business, not all problems require immediate attention. Even though Alberta’s Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) doesn’t specify what constitutes an emergency, it does stipulate that an emergency involves an unforeseen issue that constitutes a threat to the tenant’s well-being or the property. The standard practices in property management include the following as true emergencies:
- No Electricity (Not due to tenant non-payment of the bills, nor utility company outages:) This includes power outages caused by faulty wiring, panels, or infrastructure issues.
- Gas Leaks or Carbon Monoxide Leaks: These are serious issues that can compromise the tenant’s health and require immediate evacuation and attention.
- Plumbing Crisis: We all know plumbing issues can be a headache. A burst pipe, severe water leaks, and flooding are problems that can cause damage to your property’s structure and affect your tenants’ daily lives.
- Structural Damage: This includes any issue that can compromise the property’s integrity, such as a collapsed ceiling or foundation damage.
- Fire: This category includes, of course, an actual fire but also potential sources of fire, such as the presence of smoke or the smell of it.
- Compromised Security: Broken or insecure doors, windows, and malfunctioning locks can compromise the tenant’s safety and security.
- No Heat in Winter: Alberta landlords must ensure that the property’s heating system is capable of maintaining a minimum temperature of 22°C in all spaces and a minimum of 16°C during extreme cold conditions.
Now that we have covered what you must treat as an emergency, let’s break down other issues that tenants may face, but you can attend during regular business hours:
- A dripping faucet or running toilet: Unless it ultimately causes flooding.
- Appliance Malfunctions: This includes appliances such as dishwashers, ovens, microwaves, or laundry machines.
- Minor cosmetic damage: Details such as worn paint, light scratches on hardwood or laminate flooring, or small nail holes can be easily addressed and don’t pose any risk to the tenants.
- Lost Key or Lockout: While landlords are not legally required to provide immediate assistance in a lockout or the loss of the property’s key situations because it’s not considered a life-threatening issue, many choose to do so as a courtesy, especially during business hours. However, if the incident occurs outside of these hours, tenants will need to contact a locksmith on their own.
Emergency Maintenance Response Recommendations
As we mentioned before, you should expect emergencies at any point in your career as a landlord. These are our recommendations to handle things quickly and efficiently:
- Be Reachable: Independent landlords must be available and accessible to tenants at all times. If you go on vacation, you must designate an emergency contact to handle your tenants’ needs while you’re away. We have a dedicated blog that details how to choose your emergency contact and everything else you need to do before a vacation to ensure your property is well cared for. You can check it out here.
Once you are notified about an emergency at your property, ensure that your tenants know you will assess the issue and act as soon as possible, and inform them when help will be on the way.
- Have Emergency Maintenance Vendors: Establishing relationships with vendors such as plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians, and locksmiths who can attend to emergencies is key to resolving issues quickly before they become expensive repairs. We provide you with our recommendations for selecting reliable service providers for your property here.
- Maintain Open Communication With Your Tenants: Regularly communicating with your tenants and providing them with updates on the progress of the repairs will help them feel at ease.
- Document the Incident: Keep a written record of your tenant’s initial report, your response timeline, repair work orders and invoices, your communications with your tenant, and photos of the issue before and after the repair. This will protect you legally and help you track the situation in case it becomes a recurring issue.
- Follow-up: Once the repairs have been done, confirm with your tenant that they’re satisfied with the result and everything is in order with the property.
- Adopt a Proactive Approach: Having a preventive maintenance schedule and conducting inspections regularly will help catch potential issues before they become emergencies, saving you from the stress and costs associated with these types of repairs.
Managing Emergency Repairs With Ease Is Possible
Emergency repairs are an unavoidable part of your duties as a landlord—but how you prepare for and handle them will make a difference. By understanding what constitutes an emergency and having a reliable response system prepared, you can manage any emergency with professionalism, preserve your property’s value, and keep your tenants happy.
However, emergencies and other aspects of running a rental property can be more work than you can take. If that’s your case, hiring a property manager may be the best option. We can assist you and your tenants in emergencies and day-to-day tasks if your property is located in the Calgary area. Contact us to get a free quote.
