No hot water in a rental. What the owner owes, and how fast.
Updated October 2026
What the code requires
The State Sanitary Code, 105 CMR 410.150, makes the owner provide and maintain equipment that heats and delivers hot water. The water has to arrive between 110 and 130 degrees at sinks, and between 110 and 120 at a tub or shower.
That upper limit surprises owners. A heater turned up to stretch the hot water in a three-family can put the building out of compliance from the other direction.
Who pays for the fuel
The owner pays for the gas or electricity that heats the water unless two things are both true: it runs through a meter serving only that apartment, and a written rental agreement makes the tenant pay. Oil works the same way, with a separate tank in place of a separate meter.
One heater serving two apartments is on the owner's bill.
The deadlines
Going without hot water for 24 hours or longer is on the code's list of conditions deemed to endanger or materially impair health or safety. A tenant can ask the board of health to inspect. After the inspection the board has 12 hours to issue an order, and the order gives the owner 24 hours to make a good faith effort to correct it.
Separately, chapter 186, section 14 covers an owner who is required to furnish hot water and willfully or intentionally fails to. The civil exposure is actual and consequential damages or three months' rent, whichever is greater, plus the tenant's costs and attorney's fee.
This is a plain summary of the sections linked above, not legal advice.
If you own the building
Call the same day: (617) 549-5734. Say it is a rental, how many apartments the heater serves, and whether it is leaking or just cold.
Tell the tenant in writing what is happening and when the plumber is coming.
Keep the permit number and the invoice. Replacement needs a licensed plumber and a permit, and that paperwork is what you show the board of health or your insurer if either asks.
If the heater burns gas or oil, the building has to have working carbon monoxide alarms. A replacement visit is a convenient time to check them.
If you are the tenant
Tell the owner in writing today. A text or an email is fine and gives you a time stamp. If the heater is leaking, close the cold water valve above it first. How to do that.
If there is still no hot water after a day, call your town's board of health and ask for an inspection.
You are not expected to relight a pilot, reset anything, or hire the plumber yourself. If the owner asks you to arrange it, get that request in writing, then call the number on this page.