5 Tips for Protecting Properties in Winter
It may seem like the summer holidays have only just finished, but winter is creeping up on us. The first flushes of frost and ice bring all manner of issues for homeowners and, in order to keep tenants happy, landlords need to be proactive in protecting properties for winter.
Numerous call-outs from tenants could lead to them seeking out new accommodation and leaving the owner of the property out of pocket. Here are five tips that can help avoid a number of major disasters when the weather turns.
Prevent Your Pipes from Freezing
Frozen pipes prevent water flowing through your system and can hinder your heating at best. At worst, they could burst and cause all manner of flood damage to a property. There are a number of ways to keep the water flowing through the pipes. Top of the list is to install lagging. This covers exposed pipes and insulates them against the wintry weather. You can buy pipe lagging for less than £1 per metre, putting it in place before winter can do its worst.
Landlords might consider asking their tenants to ensure the heating comes on regularly in winter months. This could even be included in the tenancy agreement as a requirement of renting the property. Executive Property Management Solutions can help draw up tenancy agreements for landlords with specific clauses just like this one.
Clear Gutters and Drains of Fallen Leaves
Winter follows autumn, the season which sees leaves fall from the trees, clogging up your drains and gutters. If the increased rain and snow can’t flow through the guttering, or is prevented from escaping down the drain, it can cause damp.
In addition, water that fails to exit down the drain can lie standing on the walkways around the property, ready to freeze when the temperature drops below zero. Naturally, this is extremely hazardous and can lead to landlords facing legal action from injured tenants.
Check the Boiler
It is a good idea to ensure a property’s boiler is firing correctly before it is needed every day. Every year, chilly families across the country decide to turn the heating on as the nights draw in and the mercury drops, only to find that there is something wrong.
Landlords cannot afford to have frozen tenants, so a routine check in the autumn is a sensible course of action. It is also a good time to perform vital gas safety checks, something which Executive Property Management Solutions can complete on behalf of landlords.
Bleed Your Radiators
Another tip for protecting properties for winter is to check the radiators. When air gets trapped in them, they become colder at the top than at the bottom and are not as efficient as they could be. This increases energy bills and leaves the building in danger of contracting damp.
Simply bleeding the radiators in the property ensures they work as well as they can, keeping the place warm and dry. It can also save money for tenants, which is an added bonus.
Clean the Chimney
Before winter sets in and the first fire of the season begins roaring in the hearth, the chimney must be swept. Most likely it hasn’t been looked at since last winter and maybe clogged, causing smoke to billow back inside the building.
Setting a professional on the job ensures tenants can light a homely fire and enjoy it in comfort.
Protecting Properties for Winter - Get Help
Executive Property Management Solutions take these tasks off the hands of lettings agents and landlords, leaving them to concentrate on other important issues. Whether it is safety-based, relating to maintenance or simply involves drawing up a special tenancy agreement, make us your first call for protecting properties for winter.
Contact us below to see what we can do for you.
