# Emergency notification for tenants: a guide

> Emergency notification for tenants means reaching the right people by SMS and email at once. Here is how to plan, send and prove it.

Guides | Published 2026-10-18 | 6 min read
Source: https://properlex.com/resources/emergency-notification-for-tenants

Emergency notification for tenants is a short, urgent message sent to the people at an affected property, on more than one channel, with a record of who received it. To do it well, a property manager needs accurate contact details, a clear audience, a plain message and proof of delivery.

This guide covers each of those, with a message structure you can copy and a checklist to run before the next incident.

## What is emergency notification for tenants?

It is the process of telling tenants, and the contractors and staff at a property, that something has gone wrong and what to do about it. It is different from a routine notice. It is sent straight away, it goes to a defined group of people, and it has to be understood in seconds.

Properlex, the relationship platform for property, treats an emergency as a flag on a normal broadcast. The manager picks the affected properties and contact types, and the message goes out by SMS and email together.

## When should you send an emergency notice?

Send one whenever people at a property need to act now, or need to know something that changes their immediate safety. Typical examples include:

- A fire alarm activation or an evacuation
- A gas leak or a suspected gas smell
- A lift entrapment or lift outage
- A burst pipe, flooding or a loss of water
- A power failure that affects safety systems
- A security incident at or near the building

If the message is a reminder, a maintenance schedule or a rule change, it is a routine notice. Keep the emergency flag for situations where speed matters, so tenants learn to take it seriously.

## Why do emergency notices fail?

Most failures come from the preparation, not the sending. The message was fine. The list behind it was not.

| What goes wrong | Why it happens | What fixes it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The message goes to an old number or email | Contacts sit in spreadsheets and phones, and nobody owns keeping them current | Have each tenant, vendor and partner maintain their own people, and ask contacts to confirm their details on a schedule |
| The wrong people are told | The only option is a whole-portfolio blast, or a manual list per building | Choose recipients by property and contact type |
| Nobody sees it | The notice goes out on one channel only | Send SMS and email together |
| Nobody can say who was told | There is no delivery record | Keep status and an audit trail for every recipient |

## Who should receive an emergency notice?

Pick the audience by property first, then by contact type. A gas leak in one block does not need to reach every building you manage. It does need to reach everyone at that address.

For most incidents, think about four groups:

- Tenants and residents at the affected property
- Contractors and other vendors who are on site or about to be
- After-hours, building manager and security contacts
- Owners or committee representatives who need to know quickly

Check the recipient count before you send. If the number looks too high or too low, fix the selection rather than sending and hoping.

## Which channel works best: SMS or email?

Use both. SMS is the fastest way to get attention, so it carries the instruction. Email carries the detail, such as a map, a meeting point or a link to the evacuation plan. Sending them together means a tenant without signal for one still has the other.

Properlex also supports InMail, the two-way messaging inside each party's portal, so replies and follow-up questions stay with the property rather than in someone's personal phone.

## What should an emergency notice say?

Keep it short. Say what happened, where, what to do now and when you will update them. Leave out the cause and the blame until later.

1. **What and where:** one sentence naming the problem and the property or area.
2. **What to do now:** the single most important action, such as leave by the stairs or stay out of the basement.
3. **What not to do:** one line, such as do not use the lifts.
4. **Who to contact:** a number for urgent questions.
5. **Next update:** a time, even if it is only to say nothing has changed.

Here is an example for a lift entrapment:

> URGENT: Lift 2 at 14 Example Street is out of service and emergency services are on their way. Please use the stairs and keep the lift lobby clear. Questions: call the building manager on the number in your portal. Next update by 3:30pm.

Save messages like this as templates in advance. Under pressure, filling in a template is much faster than writing from scratch.

## Emergency notification checklist

Run through this list before an incident, and again at least once a year.

1. Confirm that every property has a current after-hours contact and a named backup.
2. Check that tenants, vendors and partners have confirmed their details recently, and fix any bounced emails or undelivered SMS.
3. Write and save templates for your most likely incidents.
4. Decide who is allowed to send an emergency notice, and what they need to check first.
5. Test the process on a small group and read the delivery status.
6. After any real incident, review who was told, how fast and who was missed.

## How do you prove an emergency notice was received?

Delivery status and an audit trail. For each recipient you want to see whether the message was sent, delivered, opened or bounced, and a record of who sent it, to whom and when. That record is useful when an owner, insurer or investigator asks what happened.

It also tells you who to reach another way. A bounced SMS during an incident is a prompt to ring that person or ask a neighbour to check, while the incident is still live. See how this works in [delivery reports](https://properlex.com/features/delivery-reports).

## How does this relate to your legal obligations?

A notification record does not replace a legal requirement, but it supports one. In New Zealand, under the [Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fire Safety, Evacuation Procedures, and Evacuation Schemes) Regulations 2018](https://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2018/0096/18.0/LMS46332.html), every building owner must have an evacuation procedure, and owners of certain buildings must have an approved evacuation scheme. [Fire and Emergency New Zealand](https://www.fireandemergency.nz/building-fire-safety/evacuation-schemes/) explains which buildings are covered.

WorkSafe New Zealand's guidance on [workplace emergency plans](https://registers.worksafe.govt.nz/dmsdocument/3894-workplace-emergency-plans) says a plan should cover emergency and evacuation procedures, notifying emergency services and communication with whoever is coordinating the response, and it should say how the procedures will be tested. Check the current text of both for your own buildings.

## How Properlex helps

Properlex lets a property manager flag a broadcast as an emergency, choose the affected properties and contact types, and send SMS and email at once. Each party keeps its own contacts current in a free portal, and confirm-your-details messages are sent on a schedule to catch what changes. Delivery status for every recipient and a full audit trail sit behind each message.

You can see the whole flow on the [emergency response page](https://properlex.com/emergency), or read about [SMS, email and InMail](https://properlex.com/features/communications) and [property contacts](https://properlex.com/features/property-contacts). If you also look after sites as a facilities manager, our guide to a [contractor contact list](https://properlex.com/resources/contractor-contact-list-for-facilities-managers) covers the vendor side.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is emergency notification for tenants?

It is an urgent message sent to the tenants and other people at an affected property, on more than one channel, with a record of who received it. It is separate from routine notices and is sent only when people need to act or know something now.

### Should I send an emergency notice by SMS or email?

Both. SMS gets attention fastest and should carry the instruction. Email carries the detail, such as a map or a link to the evacuation plan. Sending both means one channel failing does not leave someone uninformed.

### Who should receive an emergency notice?

Choose the affected property first, then the contact types who need to know: tenants and residents, on-site contractors, after-hours and security contacts, and owners or committee members where relevant. Avoid sending to the whole portfolio unless every property is affected.

### How do I know tenants received the message?

Use delivery status for every recipient: sent, delivered, opened and bounced. Properlex records this for each broadcast, along with an audit trail of who sent it, to whom and when.

### How much does Properlex cost?

Plans start from $49 per month. Email is included, and SMS is either pay per use or built into the plan price. Tenants, vendors and partners you invite use Properlex free, with nothing to install.

Not sure what contact admin costs your team today? Try the free [contact admin cost calculator](https://properlex.com/contact-admin-cost-calculator).

[Book a demo](https://properlex.com/get-started)