Whilst owning a rental property in central London for a long period of time is a very sound investment, the management of rental is considered by most landlords to be time consuming and difficult. There is nothing worse than not dealing with a repair item on time, and then get in to an argument with a tenant, or sending a contractor to repair a problem, only to have to send him back again because he has not done a good job and meanwhile aggravating a tenant. Sometimes a tenant might act unreasonably, and unless a landlord is familiar which regulations to refer the tenant to, it could lead to another aggravated scenario. We have dealt over the last twenty years with all kind of scenarios, from simple repair matters to a whole apartment burned down due to a candle left burning,  from dealing with Insurance and building management companies to a whole roof of a reception collapsing after a strong rain, from dealing with service charge demands to compensation demands from tenants. Of course some of our Landlords manage the rental of their own property very well, but even to those landlord we say that their time and their ease of mind is worth much more than our management fee.

We asked a number of our landlords how we can improve the quality of our property management service. The points raised by the landlords were as follows:

1-       We need to know that we are not paying above market prices for repair items to be resolved.

2-       We need to know that repairs are done quickly and the tenant is satisfied with the result.

3-       We need to know that the quality of repair work being done is high.

4-       We need to know that if we have paid for a repair item, the same problem does not occur again and we are not charged for it again.

5-       We need to be updated about the steps being taken for the repair works.

As a result of our Landlord’s comments we decided to attend to repair problems as follows:

For handyman, basic plumbing and basic electrical jobs, we have employed since April 2011 our own full time contractor. He has had ten years experience having worked for large building companies and two years for the Police and has the following qualifications:

·         Qualified Part P Electrical Installer

·         Qualified in Domestic Plumbing.

·         Vast experience in Painting & Decorating

·         Vast experience in carpentry

·         1 year served apprenticeship in joinery  

·         C.O.S.H.H Trained

·         Asbestos awareness trained

·         Registered and qualified under the construction skills certification scheme, (C.S.C.S)

 For Boilers, we advise our landlords to have a service agreement directly with the manufacturer. The manufacturer’s engineer knows the boiler inside out and has the parts in his van, so can usually fix any problem with the boiler in the first visit.

 For advanced electrical problems, we have been using two companies, one of them since 1995.

 But more particularly

1-        Prices our repair contractors charge: we have always been happy that we offer one of the lowest rates in the letting property management market. The reason is that since we offer our contractors a high volume of work, we have been successful in negoting with them that no charge will be made for providing a quotation, and that their rates are heavily discounted compared to the market rates. For example, the average hourly rate for a plumber in central London is £75 and more. We managed to negotiate a rate of £60 per hour.

2-       How quickly repairs are undertaken: previously we had a problem with this point. In order to make sure that our landlords are not being taken for a ride, for most repairs other than very minor ones, we first asked for a written quotation. We then checked the quotation to see that it is not an unreasonable quotation. If we agreed with the quotation we would instruct the repair to go ahead; otherwise we will ask for a reduction in the quotation and/or arrange a second quotation. While the above procedure protected our landlords, it did slow down the undertaking of the repairs. So as regard to this point, we could not say that previously we were providing the quickest service. Employing our own handyman resolved this problem. Our handyman attends the property and repairs the problem there and then.

3-       The quality of the repair undertaken: previously we were relying on our choice of contractors and the feedback from the tenant. We have always had a rigorous procedure for choosing the contractors we use. Some of these were large companies, some small one man bands. So we would send our contractor to the property to repair the item reported, we would get a confirmation from the contractor that the repair was done, we would then get a confirmation from the tenant that the repair was done satisfactorily. Here again we previously had a problem: we were totally relying on the good faith of the contractor. The only way to really provide a high quality of repair is by way of inspecting the repair after it is done. No letting agency ever inspect the repair work being done for a number of reasons. First the property managers are usually administrative people not people with building repair knowledge and do not have the necessary knowledge to say if the repair work is done properly. Second the cost of inspection is very high and it would be a loss making service if the letting agencies offered that service. Again by employing our own handyman, this problem was resolved as he is doing the job and he is therefore inspecting the work. He knows that if the work is not done to a high quality he will be sent back without being able to charge for it, which brings us to point 4 below:

4-       “We need to know that if we have paid for a repair item, the same problem does not occur again and we are not charge for it again.”: To our shame, there have been a very few times in the past when we would send a contractor to do a job, he will report that the job is done, but the tenant would complain later that the problem persists. This had occurred only a few times, and mainly to do with difficult plumbing repairs and specially boiler repairs. There was this case regarding a boiler repair where the boiler engineer we sent advised that the boiler needs to be changed as it was a very old boiler. We presented the report to the landlord who instructed us to go ahead with the change of boiler. Te boiler was changed but there was a problem afterwards. The pressure in the boiler kept going down. We protested to the boiler engineer who came up with an excuse that had nothing to do with the work he had done. He wanted to charge more to fix the problem. We sent a second boiler engineer for a second opinion. The second boiler engineer reported that the work was not done correctly and that three other steps needed to be undertaken. We reported this to the landlord and he agreed to pay the cost. The three other steps were undertaken but the problem persisted. The Landlord was frustrated as was the tenant and ourselves. The boiler engineers we had sent had worked for us for more than seven years so we were at a loss to explain this.  Again by employing a handyman with qualifications in plumbing and ten year experience we have assured that the normal plumbing jobs are done correctly and with no extra expense should there be a problem. As for the boilers, we have recommended to our landlords to allow us to set up a service agreement directly with the boiler manufacturer. The engineer from the boiler manufacturer knows the boiler inside out and has all the necessary parts with him when attending the property. If there is a service agreement it is to the benefit of the manufacture’s engineer to repair the boiler in one visit. There is no way that our boiler engineer would be familiar with all the boiler makers’ products or carry all the parts with them. In the case above, the boiler was a Bosch boiler. We arranged a service agreement with Bosch. The engineer attended the property and established that there was nothing wrong with the boiler. The problem was a tiny hole in the plumbing under the floor. This was resolved and everyone was happy.

5-       We need to be updated about the steps being taken for the repair works: Our staffs are trained in house to provide constant update to both the landlord and the tenant. We always take written notes when a telephone conversation takes place and save all written communication in the properties repair folder. But more than that, we have a customer service training program which takes six months to conclude. To us this is a key issue in management of a rental. Coutts de Lisle has a separate property management section where the staffs are highly trained in customer relationship techniques. A tenant calls to report a problem, such as the boiler is not functioning properly. First we establish if the problem is with just hot water, or just the heating, or both. Are there are any obvious reasons why the boiler is not heating the radiators properly, for example is the pressure below the minimum. If it is the case that the boiler engineer needs to attend the premises, we book him in writing for the same or at the latest the next day. We inform the tenant of the appointment and explain who is attending. This shows to the tenant that we are taking action to remedy the problem and that we understand the predicament that they are in. As soon as the boiler engineer attends the property, we get a report from him explaining the repair required, the cost of it and when it can be done. If the cost is below £250, we go ahead and instruct the engineer to carry out the repair. We immediately inform the tenant both in writing and verbally of the engineer’s report and when the repair is taking place. If the cost is above £250, we inform the Landlord about the situation and ask for a confirmation for the repair to be carried. We then inform the tenant as above. We have found during our 20 years of existence that there is nothing like updating both the tenant and the landlord regularly and taking action promptly. Once during a cold winter a tenant’s boiler stopped working. The boiler being old, the engineer informed us that the part needed was not readily available in the market and it would take three weeks before delivery of the part. Our property manager informed both the tenant and the landlord, but also told the tenant that she will go beyond the call of duty and try to locate the part herself. By the end of that day, she had tried six major boiler part-providers and they had all confirmed what the engineer had said, it will take three weeks for the part to be delivered. The property manager contacted the landlord, explained that in this situation the best course of action was to provide electrical heating, then compare both the gas and electricity bills for the previous quarter and the current quarter and refund the tenant for any increases in the consumption of energy due to usage of electrical radiators. The Landlord agreed. The property manager e-mailed the tenant, mentioning by name the six part-dealers that she had contacted, and informed the tenant that it will take three weeks before the part is delivered, but also suggesting the above solution. This e-mail was immediately followed up by a call, and the tenant agreed to the solution suggested. For the next three weeks, the property manager was calling the tenant every other day to make sure everything was OK, whilst updating the tenant of her efforts to bring forward the delivery date. Even though this happened during the winter, in February that is, the tenant was satisfied with the service and did not ask for any compensation. Three weeks later, the part was delivered and the engineer got the boiler working. The property manager called the tenant and asked if the tenant was satisfied with the heating, and the answer was a big Yes.

Rent Collection:  We have a full time very experienced book keeper working for us. We pay rents to our landlords the same day that the rent is cleared in our account. A statement of account is sent to the landlord every time a payment is made. It happens from time to time, though rarely, that a rent is not paid. Our rent collection system immediately kicks in to action: a letter is sent referring to clauses in the tenancy contract informing the tenant that he is in breach of contract and that a payment should be made. If rent is still not paid, a second similar letter is sent explaining that if the rent will remain outstanding, we would have to advise the landlord to serve a couple of notices for the recovery of the rent. If Rent still remains unpaid, a third more harsher letter is sent giving notice that a section 8 notice will be served on to the tenant for the recovery of the rent and the possession of the property. In 99% of cases, this approach has worked. Dealing with rent arrears promptly is the key to success. If a tenant feels that a Landlord is too lenient with regards to rent arrears, then it gets harder to achieve a speedy solution.

Six Monthly Management inspections:

Our in house management inspector will inspect your property every six month during a rental and will craetea written report about the state of the property including coloured photographs.