Repairs and maintenance during a lease

What the owner must keep working

Chapter II of the State Sanitary Code, 105 CMR 410, lists the facilities an owner must install properly and keep free of leaks, blockages and defects. The list covers sinks, tubs and showers, toilets, the water heater, gas and water pipes, the heating system, drains, light fixtures, switches, outlets and wiring, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and the stove, oven and refrigerator unless a written lease makes the tenant supply them.

Equipment the owner chose to add is covered too. If the unit came with a dishwasher, a washer and dryer, a garbage disposal, air conditioners, a microwave or a range hood, keeping them working is the owner’s job for the length of the tenancy. The code lets an owner remove owner-installed optional equipment only when the unit is vacant or before a new tenancy begins.

Two details are easy to miss. After a leak or flood, the owner must make sure all surfaces are dried within 48 hours of being told or of the end of the event, whichever comes first. After any repair, debris has to be removed, the area cleaned and wet surfaces dried.

Tenants have duties as well. They must use the unit and its fixtures with reasonable care, keep the facilities they use in sanitary condition, and maintain any appliances they own and installed themselves.

Urgent and routine repairs

The code names conditions that are always treated as possibly endangering health or safety. If a tenant asks the local board of health to inspect, the board must inspect, and for any of these conditions it orders the responsible party to make a good-faith effort to correct it within 24 hours of the order being served. Other violations get an order to correct within 30 days.

Treat anything on the list below as a same-day call. Routine items, such as a sticking drawer, a slow-closing door or a cracked tile that is not a hazard, can wait for a scheduled visit. Grouping several small jobs into one visit saves the tenant repeated disruptions and saves the owner minimum call-out charges.

• Heat below the required temperatures during the heating season, September 15 to May 31
• No hot or cold water, or not enough, for 24 hours or longer
• Electricity, gas or water shut off or not restored
• A toilet, sink, tub or shower out of order, or a sewage backup
• An entry door or exterior door that cannot be locked
• Missing or non-working smoke or carbon monoxide alarms
• Pest infestation
• Structural defects, or electrical, plumbing, heating or gas equipment that exposes someone to fire, shock or injury

Getting into the unit

The Sanitary Code requires every occupant, on reasonable notice and by appointment where possible, to give the owner or the owner’s representative access to make repairs, do pest treatment and service utilities. Access must be at a reasonable time. The owner must give at least 48 hours’ notice, except for emergency repairs, which need no notice.

The security deposit law adds a limit on what a lease may say. A lease may allow the owner to enter only to inspect, make repairs, or show the unit to a prospective tenant, buyer or lender. Entry is also allowed under a court order, if the unit appears abandoned, or in the last 30 days of the tenancy to inspect for damage. Outside those reasons, the unit is the tenant’s home.

In practice, send the request in writing with a time window, name the contractor who is coming, and ask the tenant whether they want to be there. A short confirmation the day before avoids most missed appointments.

An owner who does not live in the building must post the owner’s name, address and phone number, or the property manager’s, near the mailboxes or inside the unit, and that phone number must be checked at least every 12 hours. The owner must also give each tenant, or post, a copy of the state’s Notice of Occupants’ Legal Rights and Responsibilities.

Who pays for what

A workable rule: if something fails through age or ordinary use, the owner pays. A refrigerator that stops cooling, a running toilet, a loose faucet or a worn-out part are the owner’s cost. If something breaks through misuse or force, such as a refrigerator door pulled off its hinges or a hole punched in a door, the tenant pays. Ask what happened before deciding, and keep photos.

Pests follow the code. In a single-family home the tenant is responsible for keeping the unit free of pests, unless they are getting in because the owner has not maintained the structure. In a building with two or more units the owner is responsible for pest elimination. Tenants in every case must keep the unit clean enough not to attract pests. In Boston, an owner who receives a bed bug violation must give the city written extermination reports within 14 days, and units next to an infested unit must be treated.

In a condominium, a leak from the unit above, a common pipe or the roof usually starts with the association. Report it to management first, then deal with the damage inside your unit. Each association’s documents split responsibility differently, so read them before you promise the tenant a timeline.

Owners who live far away sometimes agree in writing that the tenant may call an approved handyman directly for small jobs up to a set amount. Cost still follows responsibility: the owner pays for wear, the tenant for damage.

Contractors and records

Gas work, such as moving or connecting a gas stove, needs a licensed professional. Ask any contractor whether the job needs a permit in your town, and keep the paperwork.

Keep one running log for the unit: the date each request came in, when you answered, who did the work, what it cost, and before-and-after photos. If you ever deduct repair costs from a security deposit, the law requires records of the damage, the repair dates and the costs, with receipts, kept for two years after the tenancy ends and open to the tenant’s inspection. A log kept from the first day makes that easy.