A tenant's 2 am maintenance request: ask first, wake someone second.
A tenant texts at 2 am about water under the sink. Before anyone wakes your on-call manager, you need to know: is it a drip, or a burst pipe?
A drip, or a burst pipe
The tenant texts the number on their lease. Otto answers in your company's name and works through the triage questions you wrote with us.
The detail
A dripping tap gets logged for the morning. Water that won't stop, or a suite with no heat, goes to your on-call manager with the tenant's answers and a photo.
The cold nights are the busy ones.
The detail
In January 2024, a deep freeze across Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan caused over $180 million in insured damage, much of it water from frozen and burst pipes1.
What Otto asks the tenant, in order
- Is anyone hurt, or is there smoke or a gas smell?
The detail
If so, Otto tells them to call emergency services first, then gets your on-call manager.
- Is water still coming? Can you reach the shut-off under the sink or behind the toilet, and turn it?
- Is it coming through the ceiling or a wall, or into the suite below?
- Is the heat working? What does the thermostat say?
- Can you send a photo or a short video?
- If a plumber comes tonight, how do they get in, and is there a pet?
A maintenance request record you can copy
Use it as your tenant request form, or as the log your on-call manager keeps. Every line is filled before the request is closed.
- Building and suite: [ ]. Reported by: [name], [phone].
- Came in: [date, time]. On-call manager told: [time].
- What's wrong, where in the suite, and since when, in the tenant's words: [ ].
- Photos or video, taken before anyone touches it: [attached / asked for].
- Urgency: [tonight / next business day / routine], because: [ ].
- Other suites affected (above, below, next door): [ ].
- Access: [key / fob / lockbox]. Alarm: [ ]. Pets: [ ]. A time that suits the tenant: [ ].
- Booked: [vendor]. Approved by: [name]. Coming: [date, time].
- Owner of the suite: [name]. Told: [date, time].
- Closed out: [what was done]. Cost: $[ ]. Photos after: [attached].
What Otto leaves to your on-call manager
- It doesn't approve a plumber or a cost. Your on-call manager does, and paying anyone is never Otto.
- It doesn't tell a tenant what you're obliged to fix, or by when. That's yours to say.
- It doesn't promise a time the plumber hasn't confirmed.
- The tenant can reach a person at any point.
The detail
The owner's update has a cost in it, so it waits for your yes in the morning.
Your Property Co.
6:50 am Example
Morning. A cold night: two requests, one real.
Done overnight
- 1:52 am: no heat in 204 at Elm Court. Triaged; your on-call manager approved the furnace tech for 7.
- 3:15 am: a dripping tap in 11B. Logged as routine; the tenant knows someone calls today.
Waiting for your yes
Send Elm Court's owner the furnace tech's report and the cost?
Look first
Tech on site at 7:05. Igniter replaced, heat back on in 204. Photos attached.
Check on 104, under 204, for any water or cold?
Sources
- Western Canada deep freeze causes over $180 million in insured damage, Insurance Bureau of Canada, 2024-03-11. Read 2026-10-27.
Checked on 2026-10-27.
