One of renting's leading benefits is that landlords bear most of the burden for making repairs; which means that if something breaks, you can just call in a service request, go to work, and by the time you get home, whatever it was that's broken is back and running again.
However, it's not always the case and landlords may take days or weeks to attend to the repairs. You might get tempted to address the repair yourself, but the general rule of thumb is to always call your landlord first.
If you are unsure whether the repair is under your landlord's wing, just follow this general protocol according to Trulia:
Communicate the issue
By the rule, the landlord takes care of repairs, and the tenant informs the landlord before doing any repair themselves. There is a reasonable time observed for the landlord to respond to the issue and this is often outlined in the lease. However, it should also depend on the nature of the problem. Is it a safety risk or a superficial issue? Does it hinder you from doing essential tasks or just causing inconvenience?
Wait a reasonable amount of time
When there is unreasonable delay to addressing the issue in the landlord's end, you may do the repair yourself. Document the exact date of when and how you delivered the notice to the landlord as well as a justification as to why you feel the response time was unreasonable.
By keeping record, you may avail of reimbursement from the landlord for any out-of-pocket costs incurred to address the needed repair. However, remember that this should only be done particularly for urgent circumstances; otherwise, the landlord is entitled to be given several days (or even weeks) to make the requested repairs.
Avoid breaching your lease (particularly if it contains a provision limiting your ability to make alterations without prior consent) by moving too quickly and not giving the landlord enough opportunity to address the problem.
