How Landlords Should Prepare their Property for Extreme Weather
What can you do, as a landlord, to prepare and maintain your UK property for extreme weather?
After the summer heatwave with record temperatures reaching 40 degrees, many people (tenants and homeowners) are looking for ways to avoid overheating indoors in the future, but it’s a tricky one to balance in the UK. We don’t experience extreme heat too often so it’s difficult to justify the cost of year-round air conditioning (especially with the rising cost of energy bills), and we also need to keep the house warm and cosy in the colder months.
When it comes to the private rental sector, landlords also need to consider the impact of extreme weather on the condition of their properties and the consequent longevity of their asset. High temperatures scorch gardens and can cause cracks in walls as the building dries out. Extreme rain and flooding can damage the structure of the building and its contents. Winter snow and ice can cause issues with heating systems, pipes and windows, which can lead to condensation, mould and damp. Even autumn weather can cause blocked pipes from leaves and external damage to the property from high winds.
Are there any property fixes that work for all seasons?
There are some simple changes or improvements that will help to maintain the condition and comfort of your rented property – no matter the weather:
1. Insulation
Insulating your property brings many benefits year-round. It helps to control the heat transfer in a building and therefore helps to keep the heat in the home during the winter and keep the hot air out in the summer.
In a heatwave, it slows down the time it takes for the heat on the outside walls and roof to infiltrate. Because of this, it makes the home much more energy efficient, which is essential both for landlord compliance (the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard, for example) and for keeping tenant energy bills down.
2. Ventilation
Like insulation, ensuring a property is well ventilated can make all the difference in extreme weather conditions. Fixing windows and draughts should be your priority as a landlord. In heatwaves, the key is to create good airflow throughout the building – and to trap cooler air in and hot air out. Check the seals on windows and look for gaps under doors, between floorboards and skirting, and around radiator pipes.
If it’s your responsibility to provide curtains and blinds, ensure these fit correctly, especially on those windows facing direct sunlight. Black-out or thermal window treatments can help to maintain ideal temperatures year-round.
As the landlord, it can help to educate tenants on how and when to ventilate a property in all weathers, as this will also prevent damp and mould from occurring after normal practices like showering, cooking and laundry.
3. Inspection
Interim property inspections are essential as they help landlords to stay on top of any potential risks to tenants and property.
Always check external areas of the home like the roof, drains, guttering, fences, trees and external walls to ensure they are weathered, pruned, secure and safe. You should do this in all seasons. This will give peace of mind to all in high winds, heavy rain and freezing temperatures.
Internally, check for ventilation issues (as mentioned above), damp and mould, broken boilers, and condition of windows. Any repairs need to happen as soon as problems are spotted or reported.
It helps to introduce reminders and easy to follow processes when it comes to inspections and repairs. This will make it easy for both tenant and landlord to stay on top of property issues before they become a safety hazard in extreme weather.
As easy way to automate much of the inspection and repair process is through a smart app like Inventory Hive, which is accessible to both the landlord, agent and tenant. It improves the flow of communication between all parties, sends timely reminders on important tenancy milestones, provides useful information to the landlord on compliance, and helps to manage inspection scheduling, reporting and repairs.
Learn more at inventoryhive.co.uk and sign up for your free 30 day trial (no card details required) to create unlimited property inspection reports.
