Landlords and PMs seem to define "emergency" pretty differently in practice. The hard emergencies are easy calls: no heat in winter, active flooding, no water at all, electrical hazards, lockouts tied to safety. But there's a huge gray zone — AC out in July, one of two toilets clogged, a leaking dishwasher, a fridge making noise but still cooling, a disposal leaking under the sink at 11pm.

A common approach is to define "emergency" narrowly in the lease (health/safety/property-damage only) and push everything else to next business day. But tenants don't always see it that way — "next business day" feels very different to someone with a toddler and a broken AC in July heat than it does on paper.

Curious how others handle this:

- Do you have a written definition of "emergency" in your lease, or is it a judgment call every time?

- Has an after-hours "is this really an emergency" call ever gone badly — tenant upset you didn't rush someone out, or you dispatched someone for what turned out to be nothing?