The importance of inspections
Here we cover the reasons why you should carry out an inspection and how often
By far the majority of residential tenants pay their rent on time and look after their rental property. But there’s a minority who don’t.
These tenants usually represent no more than around five per cent of renters, but that number is significant if you happen to get one of these tenants.
If you have ever had your rental abused by reckless tenants, you will know the distress it can cause when the situation is out of control because there’s no quick resolution – evicting bad tenants is a lengthy process.
You can protect yourself as much as possible by doing thorough due diligence through tenant referencing and carrying out tenant checks on all your prospective tenants, but it’s impossible to reduce the risk to zero.
That’s why you should do regular checks and inspections, especially with new tenants.
In the extreme, tenants have been known to carry out all sorts of activities that would horrify most landlords, from throwing wild parties, introducing pets without permission and subletting, through to operating a drug den, a prostitution racket or setting up a cannabis farm.
Regular landlord inspections are vital for making sure that your tenant is looking after the property and not breaching other terms of the tenancy agreement.
Most landlord insurance policies, including Hamilton Fraser Total Landlord Insurance, specify that an inspection should be carried out within a month of the tenant moving in and then every six months during tenancies.
Weekly inspections are generally recommended when the property is vacant.
We offer both Essential and Premier landlord insurance cover. Get an award winning landlord insurance quote online today or call 0800 634 3880
“Most landlord insurance policies, including ours, require tenants to inform their landlord if the property is going to be vacant for an extended period and you should make sure this is indicated in the tenancy agreement. We ask that, where the property is going to be vacant for between 30 and 90 days, you make sure that all security devices are kept in full and effective operation and arrange for weekly internal and external inspections to be carried out. We also ask that you keep written reports of these inspections, as well as rectifying any defects they reveal.”
With a new tenant, when you carry out your inspection within the first month, try to treat this as a personal visit to see how they are getting on.
This first inspection is an opportunity to make sure that they are aware of all the important things you went through with them when they moved in and which you ideally included in a welcome pack.
This will include things like where the fuses and stop taps are located and how to operate appliances and carry out smoke alarm checks.
You can use this visit as a way of developing communications and a good working relationship with your tenants, making sure they feel comfortable contacting you if they have a problem.
If the tenant does call you in for something, that’s a great opportunity to do a quick informal inspection without the tenant realising it is an inspection.
If something’s gone wrong, say an electrical issue, you will likely have access to the whole property while you do your investigation and the tenant will be none the wiser.
Regular drive past observations are useful to catch a glimpse of what’s going on from the outside of the property.Another great way to monitor tenant behaviours is through neighbours.
It’s in the neighbours’ interests that your tenants are well behaved, so developing trusting relationships with them is a great way to monitor comings and goings.
