Undoubtedly when living at any property accidents will happen and things will break. While this may be beyond both landlord and tenant control there are certain items that are the tenant’s responsibility and items that can be remedied very easily and others which clearly fall on the shoulders of the landlord and may be more difficult to fix. Many tenants believe that every maintenance item within the apartment whether it is caused by the tenant or not is the landlord’s responsibility and this is simply not the case. Additionally, many tenants believe that every item within their apartment which needs maintenance attention is an emergency. What may be perceived as an emergency to you as the tenant, is not necessarily an emergency in the greater scope of things. We will try to identify in this article what items are landlord vs. tenant responsibility and what is considered emergency vs. non-emergency to give you a better perspective.
What is a Maintenance Emergency?
A maintenance emergency is something that if it isn’t repaired immediately could cause injury, threaten your health, or cause serious property damage. These things would include but not be limited to the following:
- A broken waterline or flooding
- Fire
- Broken gas line or gas leak
- Broken lock on your front door which will preclude you from being able to secure the property
- No air conditioning in extremely hot weather
- No heat in freezing weather
- Sewer back-up if it is flooding your apartment
- Roof leak that is causing major damage or flooding within the apartment, not a minor roof leak
What is a Maintenance Non-Emergency?
Not every maintenance issue is an emergency. If you have a leak under your kitchen sink or from your toilet that is minor and can be contained with a bucket or some towels this is certainly a maintenance issue but not considered an emergency.
If you have a roof leak or water leak around one of your windows in a rainstorm this can be solved with a bucket or towels and is not a maintenance emergency. Additionally, roof leaks can not be assessed or repaired until the rain stops. Many tenants believe that in a rainstorm when their roof has a minor leak that their landlord will send someone out in the middle of the rainstorm to plug the leak. Even if the landlord wanted to do this no roofer can repair the leak until the rain ceases and they can identify the source of the leak. Additionally, once the rain stops the roof will need to dry out in order for any patchwork to adhere to the roof.
Below is a list of items that are not considered an emergency but are clearly maintenance issues and will be attended to however, not on an emergency basis:
- A broken air conditioner when the temperature outside is below 90 degrees
- A broken heater when the temperature outside is above 50 degrees
- Your ice maker stopped working
- Your stove is not heating up
- No hot water
- Light bulb burnt out
- Toilet bar or towel bar has broken or fallen off of the wall
- Kitchen cabinet door has broken
- Refrigerator has stopped working
- Window will not close all the way
- Garage door opener not working
- Broken toilet when there is more than one toilet in the apartment
- Sink not working when there is more than one sink in the apartment
- Minor moisture in a wall or on a floor that is not causing flooding
In the event that your maintenance item is not an emergency you should still request a work order for maintenance, and these will be handled during normal business hours or on the next business day if it is after hours. Please be aware and patient that these non-emergency items will be dealt with after the emergencies have been taken care of. The landlord will do its best to take care of all maintenance request items as soon as possible but on a priority basis.
Some maintenance items can be dealt with using common sense and may require the assistance of the landlord or its maintenance technician but can be dealt with over the phone which would avoid wait times and the necessity for the landlord sending someone out.
Examples of this are as follows:
- Air conditioner goes out – check the breaker and check the filter.
- Getting locked out of your apartment or garage in the event that you locked yourself out of the garage or apartment you would be responsible for the cost of a locksmith. In the event that the landlord can’t get out there right away you should probably call a locksmith yourself and pay the cost. You will likely be billed by the landlord anyway and a locksmith may be quicker.
- Power outage – if there is a power outage that is caused by Southern California Edison, the gas company, or other utility provider this may be beyond the utility providers control and you should contact the utility provider directly instead of the landlord. In the event that there is a power outage in your unit you should check the breakers and try to reset them.
Items that you can handle on your own:
There are many maintenance items that can be taken care of on your own that are theoretically the tenants’ responsibility anyway. To call for a maintenance request on these items might seem logical but at the end of the day they are your responsibility as the tenant and can be easily fixed much quicker than contacting the landlord. In many instances the landlord may charge you for these types of maintenance items and therefore you will bear the cost of them at the end of the day.
- Burnt out lightbulbs – tenants are responsible for the replacement of lightbulbs. If you are unable to reach them due to the ceiling height this may require the landlord’s maintenance technician to come out.
- Smoke detector battery is low – if your smoke detector is chirping the battery needs to be replaced. Typically, this would be a standard battery that could be purchased at any store and may be only a few dollars. This is much easier than waiting for the landlord’s technician to come out and dealing with the chirping smoke detector.
- Air filter on air conditioning unit – again these filters are only a few dollars and can be purchased at Home Depot or any hardware store if you are concerned about the air quality in your unit this may be an easy fix for you to take care of on your own.
- Garbage disposal not working – there is a reset button on the garbage disposal for the breaker which should be tested to make sure that is not the issue. In the event that the landlord finds that there are bones, silverware or other items that have been placed into the garbage disposal by the tenant that have caused the garbage disposal to malfunction or clog up the tenant will be responsible for the cost of the maintenance call in addition to the fact that there may be additional services such as snaking the drain to clear out the items.
- Clogged toilet – this is something that many tenants can solve on their own. The purchase of a simple plunger at the grocery store is a smart idea and money well spent. This would solve any minor clogs for the toilet. In the event that there is a major back-up certainly you would contact the landlord. In the event that the landlord determines that the back-up of your toilet is due to placement of paper towels, wipes, or other items that are not supposed to be placed into the toilet you would be responsible for the cost of the maintenance service call and any repairs associated with it.
Do Not Avoid Maintenance Requests
Some tenants believe that they don’t want to bother the landlord with maintenance requests, so they don’t call it in. This is a mistake for many reasons. First of all, any maintenance request that the landlord is responsible for should be called in and the landlord will take care of it. Secondly, in the event that you don’t call in a maintenance request it could get worse or could lead to other damage in the apartment for which you might be responsible for because of neglecting to call it in. A good example of this is sometimes tenants keep the window in their bathroom closed when they take showers and there is moisture that then tends to collect on the ceiling of the bathroom. While this moisture is normal and does not cause any damage if left over time on a repeated basis for months and months it could turn into black spots of mildew on the ceiling or around the window. Many tenants call thinking that they have mold in their apartment in a panic and want the landlord to provide them with free rent and other concessions because of the mold. This in fact is mildew which can be easily wiped off with 409 or liquid bleach and is an easy fix. Additionally, this is a set of circumstances which is created by the tenant not allowing proper air flow in the shower and not calling in to report it for an extended period of time.
When in doubt if there is a maintenance issue our suggestion is to contact the landlord and they can walk you through and explain whether your item is considered an emergency, a non-emergency, and if it is a tenant responsibility. They may be able to walk you through a solution or suggestions over the phone. More communication with regards to maintenance is better than not, to ensure that your property is maintained and there are no ongoing issues.