The landscape of property management is on the cusp of significant change. The Renters' Rights Bill will introduce big reforms, such as the abolition of Section 21 evictions, but property agents will have to adapt to a myriad of other changes.
Fixflo can help property agencies meet the demands of these reforms, enhance operational efficiency and ensure compliance in an increasingly regulated sector.
Awaab's Law
Awaab's Law is being introduced to the Private Rented Sector (PRS) as part of the Renters' Rights Bill. It sets clear legal expectations about the timeframes for landlords to make homes safe where they contain serious hazards, such as damp and mould. The law is intended to prevent future tragedies like the death of Awaab Ishak, who died from health complications caused by mould in a social housing flat in 2020.
What is the current outline of Awaab's Law?
The law provides specific timescales for landlords to respond to complaints of mould and dampness, giving renters a safer and healthier home.
Currently, the law requires social landlords to:
- Investigate hazards within 14 calendar days of receiving a complaint.
- Provide a written report of the findings.
- Begin repairs within seven calendar days (if the hazard has the potential for significant risk to the health or safety of the tenants).
- Complete repair work within a reasonable time frame.
- Complete emergency repairs within 24 hours.
How Fixflo can help
Within Fixflo, property managers can 'tag' issues. For example, they can tag issues as category 1 hazards to ensure they are always front and centre of their property management team's workload.
All actions taken by property managers, tenants, landlords, and contractors on Fixflo are time and date-stamped automatically. This creates an audit trail of events proving that property managers 'dealt with' issues in the required time. This audit trail is individually accessible inside every issue, so it is never more than a couple of clicks away.
Decent Homes Standard
The Government will now apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector. This will ensure that homes are safe, secure, and hazard-free, and it aligns with the Government's aim to tackle the blight of poor-quality homes. In other words, it will increase the standard at which landlords must maintain properties.
How Fixflo can help
Fixflo is designed to help property managers maintain decent standards for all homes in their portfolios. By facilitating efficient maintenance and repair tracking, Fixflo ensures that properties remain in good condition, thereby promoting tenant satisfaction and safeguarding the value of the assets.
The software's features enable property managers to proactively address maintenance issues, schedule repairs promptly, and maintain accurate records of all maintenance activities. This helps prevent minor issues from escalating into major problems. Fixflo makes all of this very simple for its users.
What is Fixflo?
Preventative maintenance is better than a cure
One of Fixflo's goals is to help property managers be proactive, not reactive. Taking the necessary precautions allows property managers to be ahead of the game regarding repairs and maintenance. With so many new reforms introduced in the Renters' Rights Bill, staying 10 steps ahead has never been more important.
How Fixflo can help
Within Fixflo's Contractor Marketplace, property agents can instruct inspections or maintenance issues to professionals. VeriSmart, a property inspection group, is one of the networks on Fixflo's Contractor Marketplace. Verismart's services include independent, impartial inspections such as inventories, check-ins, check-outs, mid-terms, and statutory compliance assessments.
The mid-term inspection requires a visit to a rental property to check its condition, ensure it's well maintained, and catch issues early so they can be addressed before they worsen. VeriSmart ensures a complete audit trail when inspection reports are submitted digitally through Fixflo and ready for the property manager to review.
Meanwhile, property managers can also find providers to fix planned preventative maintenance issues through the Contractor Marketplace.
What does Contractor Marketplace do?
Final thoughts
The Renters' Rights Bill is initiating a shift in the sector, demanding greater agility and transparency from property managers. While the changes present challenges, they also underscore the importance of leveraging technology to streamline operations and ensure compliance. Fixflo is the perfect solution and the best way to get ahead, confronting these changes and taking the bull by the horns.
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