Keeping up Your Summer Maintenance
The British summer is as unpredictable as ever, but we are still sure to see some sunshine over the next few months. Seasonal change brings new tasks to keep your buy-to-let property in good condition. You can ask your tenant for help with many of these – after all, your investment property is your tenant’s home.
Here are five summer maintenance tasks that you should remind your tenants of.
1. Maintain Outdoor Spaces
With the summer you will see outdoor spaces change. Plants will grow, flowers bloom, and front and back gardens will need a little more attention than they did in winter.
When it’s hot and dry, ask tenants to water the grass and plants. A few plants may succumb to the heat and especially if it is dry, but tenants can still do a little work to ensure the outside looks inviting and well-kept.
2. Keep Open Communication
Summer brings with it its own list of maintenance issues. Winter may be over, and you might not be getting any calls about broken boilers, but there is still plenty of problems that can arise in a property over summer. Ask your tenants to keep communications open and notify you as soon as any issues arise in the property so they can be dealt with before they get worse.
The humidity in Britain means that mould and damp often occur in summer. Ask your tenants to keep an eye out for any damp patches and let you know if they appear. You can then remove the mould before it spreads.
3. Let You Know If They Are Taking a Summer Holiday
According to the ONS, approximately two-fifths of domestic burglaries take place during the morning or afternoon (6am to 6pm). This large portion of robberies happening in daylight hours indicates that thieves believe they can enter properties unnoticed within the day. If no one is at home, your property becomes vulnerable to theft, especially if a burglar knows that there will be no one coming back to the property for numerous days to report the crime.
Ask your tenant to notify you of any trips they are taking this summer when your property will be left unoccupied. You can then put measures in place to make sure the property still appears occupied, and know to check up on it while they are away (remember you cannot enter the property without permission, unless it is an emergency).
4. Remind Them of Any Relevant Areas of Their Tenancy Agreement
As soon as the temperature rises above 20֯C, everyone in Britain is ready for pub gardens and BBQs. Your tenants are entitled to have friends over to enjoy the summertime. However, as the weather starts warming up, take the opportunity to highlight any summer-relevant clause in their tenancy agreement.
Remind them if there are restrictions on having BBQs (especially if they are in a shared building), and take note to remind them that, even though it is summer, it is still expected for them to be respectful of neighbours. Loud parties late into the night are not acceptable to most neighbours.
5. Keep the Property Ventilated
The hot weather is certainly welcome in Britain. However, it can make being indoors uncomfortable. Ask tenants to ventilate the property. When they are at home, they can have the windows and doors open to let fresh air inside. Remind them to lock all windows and doors when they go out, so the property remains secure.
Summer is often easier on properties than winter. However, that doesn’t mean you or your tenants can sit around and let the property fall into disrepair. With these summer maintenance tips, you can keep your property in top shape as the summer months roll into autumn.
To find out why we are one of the fastest-growing investment property management companies in the UK, contact Ezytrac today.
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Brett Alegre-Wood