Flat-Living.co.uk Repairs and maintenance
• Are they a formal company?
• Do they have public liability insurance, and a health and
safety policy?
• Have they been recommended to you?
• Can you ask a previous client of theirs for a reference?
• Have you, or your Building Surveyor seen their work?
• Are they long-established and of good repute?
• Have they given you a binding estimate, or complied
with your formal tender procedure?
• Will they sign a formal contract and keep to time
and budget?
• Are they insisting on money up front?
guArAnTees oF worKMAnship
This is set out within Section 151 of The Commonhold and Leasehold
The best guarantee of a contractor’s performance is to have the work
Reform Act 2002 although is commonly referred to as ‘Section 20’
carried out under the terms of a formal building contract, administered
from the earlier Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. This legally binding
by a Chartered Building Surveyor. They will be able to advise you as
procedure requires all lessees to be given the opportunity of nominating
to the quality of work you should expect and be able to advise and
contractors to bid for the work and give the lessees the opportunity to
assist you if things do not go smoothly. For all but the simplest matters
formally comment on the work that is proposed. If a lessee does not
a Chartered Building Surveyor’s advice is valuable in diagnosing
agree with the landlord’s proposed works or choice of contractor you
defects, specifying the right repair work and helping you select the
have the right to say so as part of this process although ultimately the
right contractor for the job.
landlord has to decide what should be done.
We have seen thousands of pounds wasted because contractors
have been asked to do the wrong things, or gone about repairs in
ACCess probLeMs
the wrong way. A considerable amount of our work arises because of
Sometimes problems cannot be diagnosed precisely or the
disputes that have arisen because of poor workmanship, disagreement
extent of repair work accurately predicted without special access
about payments or failure by contractors to return and correct or finish
being available (such as to high roofs) or exposure work being
work. Often clients end up paying more to try and resolve a dispute
undertaken (such as to a concealed leak). In such cases the advice
than they would have done employing a Chartered Building Surveyor
of a Chartered Building Surveyor is essential. They will know from
in the first place to help protect and advise them.
knowledge and experience the sort of defect that may be present and
For more expensive work there is a formal consultation process
be able to guide you as to the most likely investigations and repair
that Resident Management Companies must follow with their tenants.
work that will resolve the defect.
Case Study: Water damage – By Bruce Maunder Taylor
between themselves? that is to blame, or an incompetent builder.
But then the upstairs tenant left and Then there is the problem of inadequate
the letting agent inspected. Many of the funds in the service charge account.
kitchen vinyl floor tiles were curling up at Why? Maybe too many arrears have been
the edges; the hardboard beneath, which allowed to accumulate? Budget squeezed
covered the floorboards, was sodden; in too hard by the lessees’ representatives?
the bathroom, the floor was a bit springy; The managing agent just did not know
the bedroom skirting boards on the wall the building well enough to make a good
between that room and the kitchen were judgement? Or have too many other
rotten, and there was a pervasive musty repairs already swallowed the repairs
smell. Thankfully, the building insurers allowance?
accepted the claim. Extensive dry rot was Meanwhile, the leaks continue. A
uncovered, the old lady beneath had to be competent property manager is trained to
temporarily re-housed while two complete give reliable budgeting advice, to recognise
floors were renewed, and full irrigation when to send an appropriate tradesman,
treatment carried out, re-plastering, when the circumstances need an inspection
refitting and redecoration. £104,000 was by the property manager, and when to
paid out, the insurers raised the premium send a specialist or a surveyor. Not only
It is persistent dampness and recurring
on renewal and imposed a £25,000 excess must the water damage be repaired, the
water leaks, which cause frustrating
for each water damage claim. Because of fundamental cause of the penetration
problems. An extreme example was a long-
the claims’ history, no other company would must be correctly identified and properly
term leak from the outlet pipe of a washing
give a quotation, and now it was everyone’s remedied.
machine in a second-floor rented flat in a
problem because of the increased service The property manager and the lessees’
block in Finchley, London.
charge demands and the adverse effect on representatives must work cooperatively
The old lady living below complained.
the saleability of every flat. to avoid the risks illustrated by this
Someone called, but the second-floor
Water leaking through a so-called example.
tenants were not in so nothing was done.
pinhole in the flat roof covering sometimes As one director of a residents
The lessee who owned the second-floor flat
has an unfortunate tendency to travel management company once told a
was not really bothered, the rent was being
before it appears as a damaging leak some managing agent: Everybody makes the
paid, his tenants did not complain, so why
distance away. Condensation is not usually occasional mistake. Recoverable mistakes
was it his problem? The leak was between
difficult to diagnose but, sometimes, I might forgive. Irrecoverable mistakes:
two flats, it did not affect the common
psychology skills are needed to persuade you pay.
parts so, isn’t it their problem to sort out
the flat occupant that it is their way of life
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