In This Guide
Administration
Being a landlord
1. Landlord responsibilities
2. Safety regulations
3. Tenant responsibilities
4. Landlord and tenant rights
5. Repairs and maintenance
Buy to let investment
Choosing the property
Finding tenants
Letting property
Lettings agents
Levels of service
Preparing the property
Problem tenants
Tenancy
Being a landlord
Repairs and maintenance
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Under an assured shorthold tenancy, and other tenancies where the agreement is for less than 7 years, as the landlord you are legally responsible for the upkeep of any parts of the building that affect the comfort of the tenant. This includes, according to the 1985 Landlord and Tenant act, "the structure and exterior of the swelling basins, sinks, baths and other sanitary installations for heating water and space heating." You cannot charge a fee for these repairs and can only make the tenant carry the repairs out if a court agrees.
The tenant should make any formal requests for repairs in writing. However, you should also provide the tenant with a phone number to contact you, your agent or some other appointed third party in the case of an emergency.
Property management companies will normally contact you before carrying out any work, but they normally have a contractual right to carry out any necessary repairs and maintenance within an agreed value, often around £200. They also generally reserve the right to carry out any emergency work without your prior approval. However, there are certain circumstances where the property manager is unlikely to instruct contractors to begin work:
- Where an emergency occurs outside normal working hours or
even at weekends. This is due to the prohibitively high cost
of engaging contractors at such times, and because insufficient
money is usually held in the property management float to cover
the cost of this work. The property manager will probably recommend
that you get separate insurance for this.
- Where repairs are to cost over the level of the property management float, the lettings agent will not normally instruct the contractor to carry out the work until funds are cleared, which can mean an irritating wait for the tenant. You can arrange for cleared funds to speed up the process, if you wish.
It is often recommended that you take out an insurance policy
to cover the costs of emergency repairs.
When emergencies occur, it is often important to act quickly so as to avoid further damage being caused by your failure to act. Policies cover the cost of call-out charges, several hours labour and parts and materials up to a predetermined maximum, often in the region of £500 including VAT. The cost of policies varies, but the policy is normally cost-effective with just a single emergency call-out at the wrong time of day or year.
The sort of household emergencies that are usually covered by the policy include:
- Blocked drains
- Leaking roofs
- Broken gutter
- Broken windows/doors
- Burst pipes
- Electrical or gas failures
- Lost keys
- Forced entry damage caused by burglars
- Leaking radiators
- Emergency accommodation for one night if your home is uninhabitable.
The policy will also normally ensure that the emergency repairs are carried out by specially approved contractors who are on call via a help line 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.
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