Published by Kelly Sells Boston · About Kelly Cui
Key points
- Life safety comes before any call to the manager. A gas odor means leaving the building and calling 911 and the gas company from outside.
- Heat, hot water and other essential services are part of the owner's duties under the State Sanitary Code (105 CMR 410). A plan made before the season starts is what makes a fast response possible.
- Give residents one short contact sheet: what to do first, the management emergency line, and who handles which problem after hours.
- In Boston, rental units must be registered every year, and out-of-state owners must name an emergency contact in the Boston area. Other towns set their own rules.
Why one plan covers several emergencies
Most rental emergencies happen at night, on weekends or in the coldest weeks, when the usual contractor is hardest to reach. A water leak, a heating failure and a gas odor each need a different first call. A resident who has to guess will usually call whoever they know, which is often the property manager, and that costs time when the first call should have been 911 or the utility.
Leaks and routine repairs are covered in a separate guide. This one covers the situations where the order of the first few calls matters most: a gas odor, an alarm, loss of heat or hot water, and loss of power.
A gas odor: leave first, call from outside
If anyone smells natural gas, everyone should leave the building right away. On the way out, do not switch lights or appliances on or off, do not plug or unplug anything, and do not light a match or lighter, because a small spark can ignite gas. Once outside and at a safe distance, call 911 and the gas company's emergency line.
Nobody should stay inside to look for the leak, relight a pilot, turn valves or restart the heating system. Residents do not need the manager's permission to leave or to call 911, and the plan should say so in plain words. After the gas company and emergency responders have made the building safe, the manager arranges for a qualified technician to repair the equipment.
Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
Treat a sounding smoke or carbon monoxide alarm as a real emergency until someone has confirmed otherwise. Residents should get out and call 911 if there is any sign of fire or smoke, if a carbon monoxide alarm is sounding, or if they are not sure why the alarm went off. Assuming it was cooking smoke, or pulling the alarm off the ceiling to stop the noise, is how a real problem gets missed.
Once responders have cleared the building, the manager should arrange for the alarm to be checked; an alarm that keeps sounding without a clear cause needs attention, not to be ignored. Which types of alarm are required, where they go and how they are powered depend on the age and type of the building. In Massachusetts, a sale or transfer of a home may also require a certificate of compliance for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms from the local fire department, so that department is the place to confirm the requirements for a specific property.
No heat, no hot water, no power
Heat, hot water and other essential services are among the conditions a rental home must meet under the Massachusetts State Sanitary Code (105 CMR 410). A disagreement with the tenant or a pending approval does not suspend that duty. In practice, the owner or manager needs a working route to a qualified technician at any hour, arranged before the first cold night rather than during it.
Not every outage is the same call. If the whole street has lost power, the electric utility handles it, and residents can report it to the utility directly. If only one unit or one circuit is out, or there is a burning smell, sparking or a hot outlet, that is a building problem: call the management emergency line, and call 911 if there is any sign of fire. A heating failure goes to the management line first, and from there to the heating technician. If a heating problem comes with a gas odor or a carbon monoxide alarm, the gas and alarm steps above come first.
Before the heating season, call each contractor on the list and confirm the after-hours number and whether they actually take emergency calls. Do not assume every company offers the same around-the-clock service. Check that the person sent for each job holds the license that trade requires; heating, plumbing and gas, and electrical work are separate trades. Residents and unlicensed handymen should not open up gas, electrical or heating equipment.
A contact sheet residents can follow
Put the first steps on one page, post it where residents will see it and send it with the lease or move-in materials. The layout below is an example; fill in the actual numbers for your building and keep them current.
| Situation | First step | Then |
|---|---|---|
| Gas odor | Leave the building; call 911 and the gas company from outside | Tell the manager; repairs only after the gas company clears the building |
| Smoke or carbon monoxide alarm | Get out and call 911 if there is any sign of fire, a CO alarm, or the cause is unclear | Tell the manager, who arranges an alarm check |
| No heat or hot water | Call the management emergency line | Manager sends a heating or plumbing technician and tells residents what to expect |
| Power out on the whole street | Report it to the electric utility | Tell the manager if heat or other equipment does not come back with the power |
| Power out in one unit, sparks or a burning smell | Call 911 if there is any sign of fire; otherwise call the management emergency line | Manager sends a licensed electrician |
| Water leak | Call the management emergency line | Follow the steps in the separate guide on leaks |
Boston: rental registration and a local contact
Rules differ from town to town. The City of Boston requires rental units within the city to be registered with the Inspectional Services Department (ISD) every year. Some owner-occupied buildings with six or fewer units may not owe the registration fee, but they still have to register. Boston also requires owners who live out of state to name an emergency contact in the Boston area who can respond to problems at the property.
Registration and rental inspections are separate matters in Boston, each with its own rules and exemptions depending on the property. Check the status of a specific address with ISD. Owners in Cambridge, Newton or other towns should ask their own city or town hall rather than assume Boston's rules apply.
What to write down until service is restored
A short written record of each incident helps with follow-up, with insurance questions and with any later disagreement about what happened and when. Start it with the first report and close it with the notice to residents that service is back.
Tell residents what is known. When the restoration time depends on a utility or a technician who has not arrived yet, do not promise one; update residents when something changes.
- Date, address, unit and the time of the first report
- What residents were told to do, and whether 911, the fire department or a utility was called
- Who was sent: name, company and license number
- What the technician found, in writing
- When service was restored, any permit or inspection involved, and the notice sent to residents
General information for Massachusetts rental owners and managers. In an emergency, call 911 first; for the requirements at a specific property, confirm with the local fire department, inspectional services or an attorney.