As a housing association or landlord, maintaining the condition of your properties isn’t just good practice—it’s essential. Housing disrepair can lead to expensive structural disrepair, legal implications, and dissatisfied tenants. In a landscape where tenant rights are increasingly protected by legislation, and damaging factors such as damp, mould and disrepair are becoming more common, landlords must be as proactive as possible when it comes to maintaining their properties. In this guide, we’ll explore the causes and consequences of housing disrepair, review key legal requirements you need to know, and show how Resisure’s property monitoring technology can help you prevent costly issues before they even arise.
The Causes and Consequences of Housing Disrepair
Housing disrepair typically refers to any issues that make a property unsafe or unsuitable for tenants to live in. Common problems include:
- Damp and mould growth: Excessive moisture, humidity, and poor ventilation can lead to mould, which not only damages the structure of the property but also poses health risks to tenants. Such mould growth is already present in 2 million UK homes, making this a particularly worrying threat.
- Structural damage: This can range from cracked walls and roofing issues to faulty plumbing and heating systems. Left unchecked, these problems can escalate, requiring extensive and expensive repairs.
- Temperature imbalances and heat loss: Poor insulation or malfunctioning heating systems can lead to uneven heating, resulting in higher energy costs for tenants and landlords alike.
When these issues aren’t addressed promptly, landlords can face significant consequences, including:
- Tenant dissatisfaction: Unresolved disrepair can result in tenants leaving, increasing vacancy rates, and leading to reputational damage.
- Legal action: Under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, tenants can sue landlords if their properties don’t meet the required standard of living.
- Increased repair costs: What starts as a minor issue can quickly escalate into major structural repairs if not addressed early.
Legal Obligations: Staying Compliant
The legal landscape around housing quality has become increasingly strict in recent years as a result of a number of particularly harrowing cases, especially across the social housing sector. Landlords must be aware of their obligations to avoid legal claims and ensure tenant safety. Below are three key pieces of legislation that landlords need to comply with:
- Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (Section 11): This law outlines a landlord’s duty to maintain the condition of the property in question. Under Section 11, landlords are responsible for repairing the structure and exterior of the building, as well as installations for the supply of water, gas, electricity, sanitation, and heating. Importantly, these responsibilities apply to both private and social landlords.
- Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018: This act requires landlords to ensure their properties are fit for human habitation throughout the duration of the tenancy. This includes addressing issues like damp, mould, or structural defects that could pose a risk to tenant health and safety.
- Awaab’s Law: This law emphasises the urgency with which landlords must respond to reports of damp and mould following the horrific death of Awaab Ishak as a result of prolonged damp and mould exposure. Prompt action is required to prevent serious health risks, and landlords who delay in addressing these issues could face severe legal penalties.
Failing to comply with these legal requirements can lead to fines and legal claims. In fact, if a property owner, manager or housing association were to breach safety regulations by not addressing disrepair promptly, they could be charged up to £30,000. Staying informed and proactive is essential for protecting your assets and maintaining positive relationships with tenants.
How Resisure’s Technology Can Help
At Resisure, we’ve developed an innovative monitoring platform that empowers landlords and property managers to stay ahead of maintenance issues. We passionately believe that prevention is the best avenue for property owners, managers and housing associations to combat disrepair, which is why we have created a comprehensive monitoring solution to empower you with real-time insights into your properties. We measure the most critical metrics that can lead to disrepair such as:
- Humidity levels: Identifying warnings of potential damp and mould growth.
- Temperature fluctuations: Pinpointing potential heating issues or poor insulation before they escalate.
- Air quality: Indicating ventilation issues that may cause long-term damage to your property.
Our technology gathers real-time data every 30 minutes from within the home environment, which is sent back to our data centre every 3 hours and analysed to create an easy-to-interpret, weekly report which can be viewed at any time. This allows you to monitor trends and identify potential problems before they spiral out of control, providing you with the invaluable power of prevention. By taking proactive measures based on these insights, landlords can maintain the quality of their properties, reduce costly repairs, and avoid tenant disputes.
Why Proactive Monitoring is Key
Preventing housing disrepair isn’t just about fixing problems after they’ve been reported. With the right tools, landlords can predict and prevent disrepair before it happens – which is precisely what Resisure gives you the power to do. By implementing our intuitive technology, you can:
- Save money: Address small issues before they snowball and become costly repairs.
- Improve tenant satisfaction: A well-maintained property leads to happier, long-term tenants and fewer void periods.
- Stay compliant: Ensure your properties meet the latest legal requirements, reducing the risk of legal claims and unnecessary hassle.
Make Housing Disrepair A Thing Of The Past With Resisure
Understanding and preventing housing disrepair is a costly and complex issue for landlords but, with the right tools, it’s entirely preventable. By understanding the common causes of disrepair and taking steps to monitor key property metrics with Resisure’s monitoring technology, landlords can safeguard their investments, comply with legal requirements, and keep tenants satisfied.
Don’t wait for a minor issue to become a major headache—get in touch with Resisure today to find out how our innovative monitoring platform can help you proactively maintain and manage your properties with ease.