What counts as an emergency repair, and how fast should a landlord respond to each kind?
Sort every request into one of three levels: emergency (danger to people or fast property damage, respond immediately), urgent (loss of an essential service or a problem that will get worse, respond within about a day) and routine (everything else, schedule within days or weeks). The times below are a working policy, not the law. Your state or city may set required repair times, and a lease cannot lower those.
The three levels
| Level | Examples | Working response time |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency | Fire, gas smell, flooding, sewage backup, no heat in freezing weather, a break-in, a live electrical hazard | Immediately; tell the tenant to call 911 first when life is at risk |
| Urgent | No hot water, a refrigerator that quit, a toilet that will not flush (only one bathroom), a roof leak, a broken exterior lock | Within 24 hours |
| Routine | A dripping faucet, a loose cabinet door, a sticking window, cosmetic paint | Within a week or two, in batches |
Write this table into your lease or tenant handbook. Tenants who know what counts as an emergency stop calling at midnight about a cabinet hinge, and they also know to call at once about a gas smell.
Five questions that sort a request in a minute
- Is anyone in danger, or is there smoke, gas, sparks or standing sewage?
- Is water coming in or running where it should not, and can the tenant shut it off?
- Does the unit have heat, hot water, a working toilet and a working fridge?
- Is the problem getting worse by the hour?
- Can the tenant send a photo or short video?
A photo often turns a vague "something is leaking" into a clear category. Ask for one every time and attach it to the work order.
Why water problems jump a level
Water is the reason many requests become urgent quickly. The EPA's mold guide says materials that are dried within 24 to 48 hours after a leak or spill usually do not develop mold, and says to fix the source of the water first. A leak that waits three days can turn a $150 plumbing call into a $2,000 drywall and flooring job. See also what to do in the first 24 hours of a water leak.
Legal repair deadlines override your policy
Some states and cities set specific deadlines. Others use a reasonable time standard, sometimes with a presumption of a number of days. A heat or hot water outage, for example, is treated more strictly than a cosmetic issue nearly everywhere. Check your own rules; see how long a landlord has to make repairs. This is general information, not legal advice.
When you cannot tell, treat it as one level higher
The cost of treating a routine request as urgent is a vendor visit a day early. The cost of treating an emergency as routine can be a flooded unit or an injury. When in doubt, rank it higher and ask the vendor to confirm on arrival.
Example a made-up tenant texts "ceiling is dripping". The owner asks for a photo and learns the drip is under the upstairs bathroom and gets heavier. That moves from routine to urgent, and the owner asks the upstairs tenant to turn off the water to the bathroom until the plumber arrives that afternoon. A dry ceiling the next day is a made-up outcome, but it shows why a quick triage saves money.
How DoorKeeping handles it
Ask your Claude or ChatGPT, connected to DoorKeeping, to open a work order, send the vendor a job link and read the bill when it arrives. Write the priority level on each work order so a vendor's link opens with the right urgency. Anything that involves money or a legal step waits for your one-tap approval, and DoorKeeping costs $2 per unit per month with every feature included.
Sources
- EPA, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home, read Oct 30, 2026
Questions
- Is no air conditioning an emergency?
- It depends on the place and the person. In extreme heat, especially with elderly or ill tenants, treat it as urgent, and know that some local rules require cooling. See your own rules.
- Do I have to answer repair requests after hours?
- For emergencies, yes in practice, and most places expect it. Give tenants an emergency number in the lease.
- Can I make a tenant pay for a false emergency call?
- Charging for an unnecessary call is risky and state specific. Education usually works better.