Short answer
Write a clear emergency list, then have an AI receptionist answer every tenant call and follow it. Real emergencies go straight to your on-call person, with a backup, and routine requests get logged for the morning.The on-call phone can't tell
Tenant maintenance calls don't keep office hours. For most property managers in Vancouver, Surrey and across BC, the after-hours plan is one phone that one person carries for a week.
That phone treats every call the same. The burst pipe at 2 AM. The dripping tap at 2:15. The tenant who wants to know when recycling day is, also at 2:15. After a week of that, even great people start to sleep through calls. And the one they miss might be the real one.
What counts as an emergency
Start with the law. The BC Residential Tenancy Act defines emergency repairs. Examples include major leaks in pipes or the roof, damaged or blocked water or sewer pipes or plumbing fixtures, problems with the primary heating system, damaged or defective locks that give access to a rental unit, and problems with electrical systems. The Act also requires landlords to post and maintain an emergency contact for tenants.
The details can change, so check the current Act and the guidance from the BC Residential Tenancy Branch when you write your own list. This is general information, not legal advice.
Write the list down
Most on-call misery comes from a rule like "call me if it's urgent." Every tenant thinks their call is urgent. A written list fixes that:
- The legal emergencies. Major leaks, sewer back-ups, no heat, broken entry locks, electrical problems.
- Your building's extras. A stuck elevator in a tower, a parkade gate that traps cars, a fire panel fault.
- The 911 rule. Fire, a gas smell or any danger to life means the caller calls 911 first.
- What can wait. Slow drains, a noisy fan, an appliance that isn't leaking, general questions.
For each emergency, decide who gets the call and who's the backup. We write this list with you during setup, and Javelin follows it the same way at 2 PM and 2 AM.
A 2 AM call, start to finish
A tenant calls. Javelin answers in two rings, in the tenant's language. It asks what's wrong, the unit and the building, and checks your list.
If it's a real emergency, it transfers the call to your on-call manager. If they don't pick up, it tries the backup and texts both of them the details. If the tenant mentions a gas smell, it tells them to call 911 first and then alerts your team.
If it can wait, it logs the request with the unit, the problem, whether you can enter, and the best time to reach the tenant. Your team sees it in the dashboard in the morning, with the full transcript. Photo requests by text are coming soon.
Javelin never tells a caller a problem is safe, and it never approves repairs, rent changes or lease terms. Any caller can ask for a person at any time.
It books viewings, too
The same line gets rental inquiries all day. Javelin answers questions from your listing notes and books viewings into your Google or Outlook calendar, so vacant units don't sit empty while your team is busy. Tenants and applicants can speak Punjabi, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog, Farsi or many other languages.
Getting set up
You keep your number and forward after-hours calls, or every call. Forwarding takes about 15 minutes and is easy to undo, and setup takes about a week. Our one-week setup plan shows each step. See how Javelin works for property managers, or compare your options in our guide to answering services and AI receptionists.
Quick questions
Who decides what counts as an emergency?
You do. We write your emergency list with you, starting from the BC Residential Tenancy Act, and Javelin follows it on every call.
What if the on-call person doesn't answer?
Javelin tries the backup you set and texts both people the details.
What happens if a tenant smells gas?
Javelin tells the caller to call 911 first, then follows your rules to alert your team.