Monthly Archives: April 2012

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11Apr 2012

Current Property News: Landlords to address Legionnaires disease as well!

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By Steve Roulstone

There are times a as a Letting Agent that it feels as if the whole world is looking to upset your apple cart. No sooner do we get to grips with the Localism Act when along comes the HSE and offers up another tasty treat for Landlords and Agents to comply with. This time it is Legionnaires disease and the implications of removing the size limit in water tanks that has bought every rented property in the country in line with the new Code of Practise issues by the HSE.

What Next!

I am not suprised that the Industry has read the detail and asked open mouthed what else are we liable to be asked to take on board? There are cases of Legionnaires found in residential homes, but if we start looking at statistics for the reasons why people fall ill in the home, or have accidents, then Legionnaires falls way down the list of matters that need addressing! The problem is that the HSE are the organisation responsible for controlling the disease, so as soon as the 300litre tank size restriction was removed, they have no option but to advise Landlords and Agents accordingly.

It’s a silly world.

It would of course be easy to look at other areas of concern and suggest for example that stairs are banned; all glass is covered by wire protection; cookers are limited to low temperatures; kettles are banned; children are banned from kitchens and treat all areas of danger in the same manner. There are times when we all think that such matters are treated with overkill, I am no different!

Deal with the facts.

 And those facts are that the industry is now evaluating the situation and dealing with the new Code of Practise. On the face of it and the initial reaction from the Industry suggested that there would now need to be further costs generated by regular inspections of all internal water systems. But I believe that those looking at the situation will be able to give us clear guide lines as we look to take the Code of Practise on board in a practical manner.  

Tenant responsibility.

Before and between tenancies, we will ensure systems are in place to deal with the requirements. Where a Tenancy exists, we will probably develop a strategy to deal with instructing the Tenant on how to ensure the problem is dealt with during the Tenancy by following prescribed instruction at regular intervals, such as heating the water system to required temperatures especially in modern property where the system can be easily dealt with. In older properties, it may well be a requirement that any areas of concern are highlighted and dealt with through an inspection.     

Professionals.

At the end of the day, we will deal with this as we have dealt with the numerous changes in legislation introduced in the last ten years, in the right manner. As I have always said if we call ourselves professionals, we deal with matters professionally. Even though it still seems like a sledge hammer to crack a nut! I once had a Health and Safety expert as a Tenant, who questioned the standard of fence between gardens at a newly built property, because his neighbours had a dog that barked at him every time he went in the garden. His take was that it is our responsibility to protect him as our Tenant from all eventualities.

Sensible solution.

 I wondered at the time if that would include building gates at the end of the drive, chopping down the trees across the road and installing conveyer belts for use instead of the stairs. What we do do as a matter of course is address these issues in a sensible and practical way. We ensure fences offer security, dog or no dog, trust people to be able to drive on the road and not crash in too the house, have people take responsibility for tree safety, in this case the local council on an adopted road and ensure that a hand rail is in place to assist everybody using the stairs. No doubt the solution for dealing with Legionnaires disease in the home will also prove to be just as practical!

10Apr 2012

Property Landlord advice: TDP paperwork plans finally in place.

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By Steve Roulstone

There are times as a Letting Agent that a job of work comes on the horizon which was unexpected but you know from day one, is going to take quite some time to research and complete. This has been the case with the legislation surrounding the Tenants Deposit Protection introduced in the Localism Act. We could see as soon as our advisors started to inform us of the upcoming release that this was going to be one of those times.

At the coal front.

It is still a saying that explains what has been needed to comply with the requirements of the Localism Act and the arranging, writing, collating, printing and posting has taken the best part of two weeks to complete. Not so surprising when you consider that every Landlord and Tenant has had to be contacted, but not only this but Tenants fell in too differing categories of action and therefore we have had to confirm where all of our Tenants sat before getting in touch. Being part of the day to day office means that I have been involved with dealing with most of this and that is why I use the coal face expression.

Understanding.

But by being the person who has written the letters, organised who needed to be placed in too what category, decided how each category has had to be dealt with (and physically collated the information and put the envelopes through the franking machine!) you end up with an understanding of not only what is being done but also why.

Implications.

Now we understand better the implications going forward and how it changes as our Tenants situation changes. For example, those who leave prior to the 5th of May, should only be concerned with how their next Tenancy is dealt with. But how many times have we known a move to break down just before it is completed! To counter this we have served paperwork on every Tenant, immaterial of when the Tenancy ends, because as we are a large Agency, there is more chance that at least one of those moving out will fall through and having worked so hard to ensure all the Tenants are dealt with correctly, this is not the time to let one slip through our net!

Revised procedures.

Getting to grips with these changes also means we have changed our procedures to ensure that the paperwork is correct now and every time. It has been discussed that Landlords and even some Agents would be better without a deposit as they will not be risking falling foul of the legislation in the first place if a deposit does not exist. I would disagree. As Agent of the Landlord, we are duty bound to give best advice about all scenarios and I cannot see a situation where no Deposit helps the Landlord. That means that we as Agents should be professional enough to deal with the paperwork correctly through our own systems.

Now is the time.

So what we have done is write to the Landlords two weeks ago, write to the Tenants last week and change our paperwork systems now, a full month before the legislation dictates that matters should be dealt with in line with the legislation. This will give us a full month to ensure our safeguards work and allow us to continue to offer a full professional service to our Landlords. Such changes and the work that they generate are not always welcome, change never is, but we must continue to embrace them, roll with them and adapt. Then and only then can we be in a position to call ourselves Professional Agents. Those who read my blog  regularly, will know I believe there is no other way!