Landlords grapple with rising maintenance costs

Landlords grapple with rising maintenance costs

0:01 AM, 15th February 2024, About 3 months ago 3

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Landlords are having to spend more than £1,000 every year on maintaining and repairing their rental properties.

According to a report by Fixflo landlords spend an average of £535 a year fixing leak-related issues.

The maintenance management company has compiled a list of the most common emergency repairs in the UK.

Water and leak emergencies are the most common

According to the report, water and leak emergencies are the most common emergencies tenants report (72%).  This includes everything from dripping taps to burst pipes and boiler problems.

In second place are alarm and smoke detector emergencies, which were 15.96% of issues reported.

These most frequently related to the supply of power to alarms, which were treated as emergencies not because they were hazards in and of themselves, but because of the danger they posed if left alone for even a few hours.

This was followed by electrical emergencies (5.62%), which most often took the form of dangerous broken sockets, broken windows (2.65%), and gas leaks (1.77%).

Emergencies are more likely to happen out-of-hours

According to the survey, two in five repairs are reported outside of typical letting agency office hours (between 6:00 PM and 9:00 AM, or at weekends).

Emergencies are 20% more likely to happen out-of-hours than they are in-hours.

Fixflo says the average time it takes for an issue to be actioned following a report is four days. Agents typically reach out to tenants to address the issue within two days and assign it to a contractor within four days.

From there, it takes five days for a contractor to book an appointment. This is where the contractor shortage has reared its head in the last few years. Between 2021 and 2022, the amount of time it took to book an appointment grew by almost 15%.

However, once an appointment is booked, jobs in the same time period were resolved 8% faster — which Fixflo says shows the increased efficiency of contractors in response to tough times.


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Comments

JB

16:48 PM, 15th February 2024, About 3 months ago

I wish I only spent £1,000/year/property on maintenance!

Grumpy Doug

18:05 PM, 15th February 2024, About 3 months ago

Reply to the comment left by JB at 15/02/2024 - 16:48
Me too - multiply by 4 or 5 every year !

Stella

21:20 PM, 18th February 2024, About 3 months ago

I cannot remember the last time it did not cost me thousands of pounds on maintenance.
They must be talking about new build and have low-maintenance tenants!

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