The short answer
An emergency repair is anything that risks someone's safety or causes serious damage if it waits, gas leaks, no heating or hot water in winter, major leaks, and anything affecting security. A routine repair is everything else that genuinely can wait for a scheduled visit. The real fix isn't a better definition, it's making that split happen automatically at the moment a tenant reports something, built into the reporting form itself, rather than relying on whoever happens to pick up the phone to judge it correctly under pressure.
Why triage has to happen at first contact
If every report, whatever the channel, lands in the same unsorted pile, the triage decision happens in someone's head, under time pressure, often at the end of a long day. That's how a genuine emergency sits in an inbox overnight next to a dripping tap that could easily have waited. Building the triage question into the first point of contact, rather than leaving it to judgement after the fact, means the right category is attached to the job from the start, and everything downstream (who's called, how fast, how the tenant's told) follows from that automatically.
Typical emergency categories
These are the categories that consistently need a same-day or near-immediate response:
- Gas leaks or suspected gas leaks, always treated as an emergency regardless of anything else.
- No heating or hot water during winter months, particularly where vulnerable tenants are involved.
- Major leaks or flooding, where water is actively causing damage or a safety risk.
- Loss of security, such as a broken external door or window that leaves the property unsecured.
- Electrical faults presenting an immediate danger, such as exposed wiring or a burning smell.
Routine and planned repairs
Most reports fall here: a dripping tap, a sticking door, a minor cosmetic issue, a boiler that still works but is making an odd noise. These need logging accurately and scheduling into a reasonable visit, but they don't justify an emergency contractor call-out, which is expensive and takes capacity away from genuine emergencies.
The legal background, briefly
This isn't legal advice, and it's deliberately brief, because the detail is better covered by gov.uk and a solicitor than by us. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires landlords to keep the structure, exterior, and installations for water, gas, electricity, heating and sanitation in repair, and to carry out repairs within a reasonable time once they're aware of the problem, rather than a fixed number of days set out in the Act itself. Awaab's Law, which sets specific timescales for responding to hazards like damp and mould, currently applies to social housing. It's being extended to the private rented sector through the Renters' Rights Act 2025, but the exact timetable and detail for private landlords still depend on secondary legislation that hasn't been finalised, so don't rely on a specific deadline for private tenancies until gov.uk confirms one. Check gov.uk's Renters' Rights Act guidance for the current position before quoting anything specific to a landlord or tenant.
Building triage into your reporting form
The practical fix is a small number of targeted questions at the start of the report, before anything else: what's happening, is it getting worse, and a short list of yes/no prompts covering the emergency categories above (smell of gas, no heating, water actively leaking, can't secure the property). The answers decide the category automatically, rather than a staff member reading a free-text description and guessing under time pressure. A simple online repair form that tenants use from their phone, with space for a photo, captures this consistently in a way a phone call never quite does.
A printable decision table
| Category | Example | Who's called | Target response | How the tenant's told |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency | Gas leak, no heating in winter, major leak, lost security | Emergency contractor, same day | Same day, usually within hours | Immediate confirmation plus expected arrival window |
| Urgent, not emergency | Partial heating loss, minor leak contained | Contractor within a few working days | Within the week | Confirmation with a realistic timeframe |
| Routine | Dripping tap, cosmetic issues, minor sticking doors | Scheduled into next routine visit | Next practical slot | Confirmation the job's logged, with an estimated window |
Adjust the categories and response targets to your own agency's actual contractor availability. The structure, not the exact wording, is what matters.
Routing, contractor notification and tenant updates
Once a job's categorised, the routing should follow without anyone deciding it manually each time: an emergency alerts the right contractor immediately, a routine job goes into the next scheduling round, and the tenant gets an automatic acknowledgement either way, so "has this been seen" stops being a phone call. Document and form automation can generate the contractor instruction and the landlord update straight from the same logged report, rather than someone writing both from scratch once the job's already been actioned.
When to get help, and what we'd do
We'd usually start with a single automated workflow, a guide price from £350 and typically live within one to two weeks, covering the triage questions, routing logic and automatic tenant acknowledgement. Alongside that, an online repair reporting form tenants actually use, rather than defaulting back to a phone call, is a guide price from £300. Where contractor instructions or landlord updates still get typed out by hand, document and form automation generating them from the logged report starts from £500. These are guide prices for typical projects; the fixed quote comes after a free 30-minute call.
Related
- General guide: Admin eats our evenings and weekends
- Sector pillar: Property drowning in admin
- Example project: a letting agent with a maintenance portal for tenants and landlords
- Sibling page: Fixflo or a lighter workflow?
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between an emergency and a routine repair?
An emergency puts someone's safety at risk or causes serious damage if it waits, such as a gas leak, no heating in winter, a major leak or lost security. A routine repair, like a dripping tap or a minor cosmetic issue, can wait for a scheduled visit without real risk.
How long does a landlord legally have to carry out a repair in the UK?
The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires repairs to be carried out within a reasonable time of the landlord becoming aware of the problem, rather than a fixed number of days set out in law. What counts as reasonable depends on the nature and seriousness of the issue, which is exactly why triaging emergency from routine matters.
Does Awaab's Law apply to private landlords yet?
It currently applies to social housing. It's being extended to the private rented sector through the Renters' Rights Act 2025, but the detailed timescales for private landlords depend on secondary legislation that hasn't been finalised, so check gov.uk for the current position before relying on a specific deadline.
Can triage really be built into an online form, or does it need a person to decide?
A short set of targeted questions at the point of reporting (is there a smell of gas, is there no heating, is water actively leaking, can the property be secured) captures most of the decision automatically. A person still makes the final call on anything genuinely ambiguous, but most reports sort themselves correctly from the answers alone.
Will this replace the need for an emergency contractor list?
No. Triage decides which jobs need an emergency contractor and which can wait; you still need the contractor relationships and availability in place either way. What changes is how quickly and consistently a genuine emergency gets to the right contractor once it's reported.