Being a landlord can be stressful enough, worrying about property prices, mortgage rates and finding a good tenant. But nothing is more stressful than when there is an emergency at the property and the tenant is calling you every five minutes because of a leaking pipe or the heating is not working in the middle of winter.

Problems can arise 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Since emergencies can happen at any time, it is best to be as prepared as possible before an emergency actually occurs. By having an emergency plan for yourself and your tenants that outlines exactly how to deal with any unexpected situations, you will help minimise anxiety, injury and hopefully damage to the property.

Because you dont live at the property, the first thing you should do is give your tenants all the correct contact details so that you are immediately notified as soon as there is a problem. If an emergency does arise, you need to have a way for tenants, police and other emergency services to contact you 24 hours a day.

If you do not feel comfortable using your personal phone number as a means of contact, you can hire a 24-hour answering service to act as the point of emergency contact. A number of companies provide this service and you can give your personal contact number to the emergency service, along with a list of situations you consider to be true emergencies.