Landlords have an obligation to keep their rental properties in good condition. Repairing obligations are set out in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and in addition Landlords need to comply with The Housing Health and Safety Rating System Regulations 2005. Belvoir Tunbridge Wells conduct rental property inspections, on behalf of landlords with fully managed contracts, every 6 months. Having inspections undertaken by your local property agent, rather than doing it yourself, allows for third party objectivity and it is often more convenient (and effective) for landlords who can retain a professional distance from their tenants. Following an inspection we send a report with accompanying photos and recommendations for any maintenance actions required.
There are clear advantages to inspections carried out by your rental agent:
· We can assess the condition in which your tenants are keeping the property
· We can check on any maintenance issues that need attention now or in the future and advise our landlords accordingly.
· There can be items spotted in an inspection that require work immediately under a landlord’s obligations to health and safety e.g. mould or damage to fixtures and fittings that could cause injury to the tenants, but often we will advise of issues to be kept monitored in case of further deterioration.
· The process of conducting an inspection builds relationships with tenants which can be useful in future dealings.
· Some tenants ‘don’t want to be a pain’ so will only report issues when we attend for an inspection. Ocassionally it may have been helpful to have known sooner in order to take remedial action asap and minimise the impact on your property.
· We can confirm who is living in the property. This is particularly important now that there is an obligation on landlords to verify a tenants ‘Right to Rent’.
· We can ensure tenants are not only keeping the property in good condition but are also behaving in a way that protects your property investment. For example, poor ventilation is too commonly a cause of reported maintenance problems but can be easily prevented by good practices from the start of a tenancy and advice is frequently given at or after inspections.
· Although it rarely arises, an inspection can allow us as the landlord’s agent to keep an eye out for any activities or behaviour that might result in a neighbour dispute, even illegal activity.
During Covid-19 lockdown inspections had to halt however we have been able to reinstate most inspections since by conducting them on a no-contact basis with the use of appropriate PPE. We respect the rights of our tenants not to have an inspection if they have health concerns and are shielding or self-isolating at the current time. Where a physical inspection is not possible our tenants have, in most cases, provided us with a video tour of the property to enable landlord obligations to be met.
If you wish to know more about our Fully Managed property service, please do call to speak to any of our experienced lettings team at Belvoir Tunbridge Wells on 01892 615333.
