Reactive maintenance, sometimes referred to as breakdown maintenance, occurs when fabric, mechanical or electrical assets and facilities become damaged or broken.

It may involve fixing repairable assets or replacing equipment that cannot be repaired. Reactive maintenance is usually an unscheduled property maintenance service that solves problems as they arise to restore assets back to full working order. Repair and maintenance teams aim to respond as quickly as possible to reduce outage time.

Equipment and assets that lack regular maintenance checks and care may have problems that have gone undetected are more likely to incur unexpected breakdown and require frequent reactive maintenance.