Planned and cyclical maintenance
Three types of maintenance
We cover the first type of maintenance, reactive maintenance , elsewhere in this guidance. Whilst dealing well with reactive maintenance is key to good property maintenance, prevention is better than cure.
Any large organisation will have medium and long term plans for keeping their property stock in good condition. There is no reason a smaller provider should be any different and it is a key factor in separating the best landlords from the rest.
The key benefits of planned and cyclical maintenance are:
You keep the property from deteriorating and remaining a sought after prospect for renters
You don't allow problems to snowball until they are unmanageable
You can keep control of budgeting and avoid unexpected expenses
The property condition survey
The foundation step is taking stock of where your property is right now so that you get a clear overview of what needs to take priority. This doesn't have to be a surveyor's report, a simple list of assets, some notes and some basic estimates of lifespans are all that is needed.
You'll need to work through the property and make some realistic estimates of how much life the various aspects have left in them. Remember that as a student HMO, the lifespan will be significantly affected by being dense accommodation used by young people- your kitchen at home may last decades, but that is probably a less hard-wearing environment.
The goal of this exercise is to (1) get a better idea of what time and expense is on the horizon and (2) break things down into a manageable project.
Below is a template to set you thinking (here's a link if it does not display properly in your browser). If you wish to use this template and adapt it to your property, open it in Google Sheets, go to File and select Make a copy.
Cyclical maintenance
This is the ongoing work that are necessary to keep a property ticking along year after year.
Let's use internal decorating as an example. Without a planned cyclical approach, you will likely get to the point where you walk into the property one day and feel overwhelmed by the work (and cost) to bring it back to its former glory. It will depend on your property, but maybe you plan to alternate painting bedrooms one year, communal areas the next, with glosswork every four or five years. This will keep the property in good condition for the long term whilst keeping the workload manageable.
Other suggested areas to think about in terms of cyclical maintenance might include tree cutting, flooring deep cleans, mattress replacements, shower head replacements. Try making a list and establish a timeframe for each entry.
Planned maintenance
This is the bigger stuff, like replacing white goods, flooring, kitchens.
Remember, your condition survey was just an estimate to help you plan and budget- it can be flexible if needed. If you estimated your kitchen had four more years of life, but in fact still looks pretty good after four years, you can always give it reprieve of a few more years. Or alternatively, maybe it's in a worse state than expected after two and you need to bring things forward a bit. The important thing is that you are thinking about these things year on year and not letting things build up to become an unmanageable poor standard.
You don't, of course, need to go the extent of keeping a spreadsheet of assets tracking their value depreciation. You could just as easily keep a mental record of what is likely to need doing when. The important thing is to have the mindset that, like changing the oil on a car, it is better to keep a property running smoothly year by year.
Need some help?
Let us know if you want us to help you put together a maintenance programme, of if you have any questions about anything.