November 2020
Reading Time: 4 Minutes
Regular rental inspections are beneficial for both landlords and tenants. While landlords will rest easy knowing their property is being well cared for, tenants have the opportunity to raise any maintenance issues and ensure these are dealt with in a timely manner. Regular inspections are also a requirement of insurance companies offering landlord insurance, without which landlords can find that their cover has lapsed.
Rental properties must legally be kept in a reasonable state of repair. Both tenants and landlords have responsibilities for keeping the property in a good condition, and there may be additional responsibilities that have been written into tenancy agreements.
Regular home inspections ensure tenants and landlords alike are adhering to the terms of the rental agreement. During routine inspections, the landlord or their property manager can check the state of the property and ensure no alterations have been made outside the terms of the contract. This is also a time when tenants can raise any issues they may have, such as a landlords following through on organising lawn mowing contractors or garden maintenance if this had been agreed to in the contract.
Regular checks ensure tenants have ample opportunity to bring property maintenance issues to the attention of their landlord. Dealing with maintenance issues in a timely manner is of benefit to both landlord and tenant: for the comfort of the tenant and for the good of the rental property. If maintenance issues are ignored they are likely to worsen, becoming larger and more expensive to deal with and ultimately depreciating the value of your property.
If you are a landlord, you must ensure your property is insured and that you have the correct cover for a rental property. Most insurance providers require landlords to inspect the property regularly as a term of the insurance policy.
To be compliant, inspections must be well documented. Record the date of your inspection and include notes and property inspection photos. This is one area where having your own professional property manager such as Crockers is a huge bonus. Your property manager will manage the whole process for you, ensuring all the correct documentation is kept.
Another bonus of regular inspections is that you can ensure your property is maintained at the correct legal standard for the Healthy Homes regulations.
If regular checks are not made and potential issues are not brought to the attention of the landlord, it is possible your rental property may fall below the legal standards for Healthy Homes. Regular checks give landlords a chance to assess potential problem areas and ensure tenants are living in warm, comfortable, compliant homes.
Even if your property has already met the required Healthy Home Standards, ensuring it stays at standard is the responsibility of the landlord.
For more information, read our article on Healthy Homes Standards.
Legally, landlords can conduct inspections every 30 days, but in practice this is likely to be an unnecessary stress on your tenants. Three-monthly or six-monthly inspections are more reasonable and should be perfectly adequate to cover your insurance requirements and meet both yours and the tenant’s needs. Always be mindful of your tenant’s right to quiet enjoyment of their property.
Routine inspections should only take around 30 minutes to complete. At a minimum, landlords must give 48 hours’ notice before an inspection, and at the most, two weeks’ notice. While you are allowed to take photos, try to avoid including the tenant’s personal items in these photographs.
To ensure the process is as pain-free as possible, consider engaging the services of a professional property management company such as Crockers. Your property manager will carry out regular property inspections for you and provide a property management inspection report. You will also be able to rest assured that your property managers are experts in understanding the legal protocols for periodic inspections.
Call 0800 CROCKERS or Call 0800 2762 5377
