Lettings

With summer round the corner and March been and gone the start of 2015 and tail end of 2014 saw a flurry of new regulations with the clout of law behind them emerging from the Commons chamber.

The ever-changing goal posts of compliance along with ensuring you are safely acting within the law for both your property and tenants, requires a keen eye for detail. The laws with regard to rental properties and therefore to landlords are constantly evolving.

One of the most recent newborn regulations is the inclusion of residential property needing testing for legionnaires’ disease. After the removal of the 300-litre limit on hot or cold water systems the regulations now incorporate all properties.

This includes communal systems, individual water systems with or without water tanks. The flu-like symptoms of this deadly disease can develop in stagnant water and seems to favour the age group over 45 more and people with a vulnerable health and or heart or lungs problems.

When reading the ways to manage the risk of legionnaires in properties as outlined by the Health and Safety Executive Legionnaires Disease Part 1/2/3, on the surface it feels that this can be controlled without the need of a qualified individual, however when it comes to the practical side and the inspection of the pipe works, the realisation dawns it is not as simple as it looks.

Understanding how combi systems operate and interact with appliances, defining what could pose a risk, or where a dead pipe may be located and identifying the solution, takes hours of reading through the regulations – a quick Google is not good enough.

In the same way a qualified plumber attends to a gas boiler to provide a safety certificate a qualified consultant is required to conduct an assessment on legionnaires’ risk in rental properties.

The liability falls directly onto the landlord as with any of these things and the question is raised is it worth the risk for a small amount of money? How many landlords do I hear saying, ‘does this apply to me?’ Moving on to the looming election and the uncertainty of the results, the sales market is currently strong with applicants wanting to buy before May, however rental applicants are overwhelmed with choice with popular feedback being that applicants are viewing 5+ rental properties before committing. As a landlord, in order to compete in such a market you need to ensure your property is presented well, your managing agent/letting agent is vigilant, your photographs are good and that you comply with all necessary regulations.

By doing so you can ensure your house /flat stands out from the crowd and by doing so this minimises void periods.