Essential inspections

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(Free-Press-Release.com) February 17, 2012 -- An essential part of the rental process, inspecting your property at regular intervals is vital. Surprisingly, though, many private landlords fail to inspect their properties frequently – or even at all...

“Regular inspections are absolutely critical,” says proprietor of Belvoir Paisley Denise Rhodes. “Primarily they are important to ensure that the tenant is keeping the property in a good reasonable condition and is keeping their side of the tenancy agreement, in terms of no smoking or no pets. However, inspections are also important from the tenant’s point of view. We find in the first property inspection (that we do four weeks after the tenancy starts) that quite often tenants will ask questions that they wouldn’t have actually picked up the phone to call us about.”

Proprietor of Belvoir Boston Donna Burrell agrees. “I would say to any landlord that inspections are very important,” she says. “They are one of the only ways a landlord can find out if the existing tenants are looking after the property and not causing any problems. At the end of a tenancy – six months or a year later – it’s too late if a lot of damage has been done throughout the tenancy.

“Inspections are also a way to check that there are the right amount of people living at the property – it has been known for tenants to sneak in extra occupants, but these should be paying and should be credit checked. Tenants sometimes sneak in animals too, so you need to check they haven’t got 20 dogs and 10 cats living in the property.

“It may be a tenant’s home temporarily but landlords should always remember that it’s actually their own property and therefore it’s extremely important to keep an eye on what’s going on there throughout the tenancy.”

So, with the benefits of regular inspections being many-fold, why is it that private landlords are sometimes reluctant to inspect?

“I think if it’s not your job there will probably be a degree of embarrassment that comes with entering someone’s house and checking out every room,” says Denise. “Landlords often say they don’t want the tenants to think that they’re prying on them. As professionals, an agent doesn’t have that kind of issue – it’s our job to go in there and make sure that tenants are not doing anything they shouldn’t be doing.”

Donna from Belvoir Boston adds, “If your property is managed by an agent on a ‘fully managed’ basis, then the agent will do the inspections on your behalf – and I always say to private landlords that they probably won’t do an inspection to the level that an agent will.

“Private landlords often feel like they’re encroaching on their tenant’s privacy, whereas obviously with an agent it’s our business. The tenants know we are coming and we’re not reluctant to look thoroughly. If someone’s asleep in a room, many private landlords would be nervous of asking to go in, but we would make sure all areas of the property were inspected.”




[BOX OUT]
3 top FAQs about inspections


Q1. How often should landlords inspect their properties?

A. “At Belvoir Paisley we inspect four weeks after the tenancy starts and then, if everything is as it should be, every 12 weeks after that,” says Denise Rhodes from Belvoir Paisley. “However, if there is anything at all that gives us cause for concern we would go back to the property as often as it took to resolve the tenancy issue.”


Q2. Do you need to give notice?

A. “You can’t just turn up on the doorstep and demand entry – you should always give notice,” says Denise. “The amount of notice a landlord should give depends on what is in their particular lease agreement. But I would say you should always give people an absolute minimum of 24 hours notice. Our inspections are usually booked at least a week in advance and very much at the tenant’s convenience. An inspection isn’t to encroach on a person’s privacy it is just to do the job and make sure everything’s as it should be.”


Q3. What should landlords look out for during the inspection?

A. “During the inspection you should look out for any signs of neglect or abuse of the property,” says Denise Rhodes. “You should also look out for any condensation issues and loose guttering – the kind of thing a tenant might not have noticed. Also look for signs of pets or smoking, plus any minor repairs that the tenant might not think are an issue or big enough to report but, of course, over a period of time can cause a dilapidation of the property.”

Donna Burrell from Belvoir Boston agrees and adds, “Look at the state of the property as you approach, the cleanliness of it and signs that the tenants are not looking after it. Once inside, look for signs of other occupiers or pets and evidence of abuse.

“The other big problem we often find is that people have a lot of personal belongings and they don’t ventilate properly or open windows, causing mould, so look out for that too.”




• Belvoir Lettings now have more than 140 offices nationwide. To find your nearest Belvoir office, visit their website at www.belvoirlettings.com