The Landlord Protection Agency  
Main Menu, Landlord Protection Agency homepage Membership With The Landlord Protection Agency Free Landlord Services Member Services  

What would you consider an after hour emergency? - Landlord Forum thread 322639

What would you consider an after hour emergency? by Anonymous on August 11, 2014 @10:52

                              
I got a call at 10 pm last night from one of my tenants about the smoke alarm beeping. No fire just beeping, Since there are 3 smoke alarms throught the apartment not more than 3 feet away from the one that was beeping, I advised them to remove it from the wall and I would have it checked in the morning. There was no fire or nothing. Now I know when the batteries are about to go out, smoke alarms do make a beeping noise, but this morning she called to complain about me not sending someone out last night. I explained to her it was not considered an emergency.

Was I wrong? I mean, I do have to evaluate each call and identify what is and is not an emergency. And it is not cheap to send someone out just to change a battery (I am going to check it today)
Any thoughts?
[ Reply ] [ Return to forum ]

Re: What would you consider an after hour emergency? by Tina (IL) on August 11, 2014 @12:26 [ Reply ]
This T is totally stupid. Batteries BEEP/PEEP when they need replacing. Does not your lease or addendum call for T to change the batteries 2 x per year; i.e. spring and fall on all the smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms??? Am very surprised you didn't know that as a LL.
Re: What would you consider an after hour emergency? by Anonymous on August 11, 2014 @12:32 [ Reply ]
A smoke alarm chirping because it needs a new battery does not constitute an emergency! And your tenant should be smart enough to deal with such a simple situation on her own. Expecting a service call at 10:00 PM on a Sunday for such a trivial problem is ridiculous.

Address it in a timely manner, and forget about it.
Re: What would you consider an after hour emergency? by Anonymous on August 11, 2014 @12:35 [ Reply ]
If she didn't know, you should have advised her to run to the corner store for a 9v battery and change the battery.
Re: What would you consider an after hour emergency? by Stephen (WA - Washington) on August 11, 2014 @13:29 [ Reply ]
I agree that it wasn't an emergency and that it most likely is dying batteries, but I would like to mention another possible cause for the Beep Beep - a dying smoke detector. Not a common occurrence but it does happen. I had one start beeping. Tenant and I both changed batteries to no avail. I went out and got fresher batteries and still it beeped. Bought a new smoke detector and everything works now.

I never had one die before but apparently it happens.
Re: What would you consider an after hour emergency? by Melanie (CA) on August 11, 2014 @13:57 [ Reply ]
fire, flood or blood
Re: What would you consider an after hour emergency? by original op on August 11, 2014 @14:12 [ Reply ]
Yes the lease states they are responsible for replacing the batteries. And I did explain this to her as well, but some people are just dumb and over exaggerate the service call. The smoke alarm is connceted to power souce in the apartment and have battery back up. Anyways , I had my husband check the smoke alarm and he had to replace it with a new one. Im going to send all my tenants a reminder notice on what is considered an emergency.

Thanks to all who replied
Re: What would you consider an after hour emergency? by anonymous on August 11, 2014 @16:17 [ Reply ]
You can't keep them all happy all of the time. I say you're in the right on your actions.
Re: What would you consider an after hour emergency? by Jonathan Greene (California) on August 22, 2017 @21:21 [ Reply ]
My tenants think everything is an emergency. Here is a guide that I reference to understand what should and should not be an emergency:

http://resources.hemlane.com/rental-emergency-request-guide/

Check-Out
Log in

Look-up
Associations
Attorneys
Businesses
Rentals Available
Rentals Wanted
Realty Brokers
Landlord Articles
Tips & Advice
Tenant Histories

Other Areas
Q&A Forum
Free Forms
Essential Forms
Landlord Tenant Law
Join Now
Credit Reports
About Us
Site Help



Contact The LPA

© 2000-2023 The Landlord Protection Agency, Inc.

If you enjoy The LPA, Please
like us on Facebook The LPA on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter The LPA on Twitter
+1 us on Google