Member Article

Inspect regularly or risk catastrophe, landlords warned

Landlords are risking tens of thousands of pounds of damage to their properties if they fail to inspect them on a regular basis – a leading North East letting agent has warned.

Ajay Jagota of KIS Lettings believes recent reports of rental properties suffering fire or flood damage without their owners realising and tenants running cannabis farms or illegally sub-letting properties might easily have been avoided if only their landlords had taken the time to visit more often.

Ajay, whose company manages almost 700 properties across the North East from branches in Sunderland, North Tyneside and South Tyneside, said:

“As a landlord it can be easy to assume that no news is good news where tenancies are concerned – but absentee landlords all too often only have themselves to blame when things go seriously, legally and expensively wrong.

“Caught early, a dripping radiator is something you can fix in five minutes. Ignore it and it and it becomes significant water damage, rotten floorboards and a healthy and safety nightmare.

“This is particularly important at this time of year when tenants are obviously less likely to open windows due to the cold and rain, which can lead to ventilation problems, which can lead to damp and mildew, which can lead to great expense for landlords when a routine inspection would have spotted the risk before it turned into a problem.

“Some landlords think regular visits make tenants them think you’re sticking your nose in or that you don’t trust them, so you obviously have to treat visits with the utmost tact and courtesy - but believe me, nothing builds a long term stable tenancy quite like a tenant knowing they have a conscientious, proactive landlord.

“If you don’t carry out regular inspections there’s also a chance you’ll miss things like unauthorised subletting of or serious illegal activity like cannabis farming in the property too – and the court costs or refurbishments you’ll have to fork out to rectify those situations do not come cheap.

“At KIS we make sure that our landlord’s valued investments and family homes are being cared for correctly. We treat people’s homes like they were our own.

“Not only do all our properties come with the peace of mind of a damage protection insurance policy, we also visit every home on our books at least every three months making sure routine maintenance or tenancy issues are nipped in the bud. We also film a 360 degree tour of every visit so our landlords can see for themselves that everything is in order.

“This takes all the hassle out of being a landlord and all the worry too.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ajay Jagota .