Owning multiple buy-to-let properties can be a rewarding and profitable venture, but it often comes with a hidden burden – property maintenance. Whether you’re a seasoned landlord or just starting out in the world of real estate, managing the upkeep of your properties can be a daunting task. It’s time-consuming, financially demanding, and can significantly impact your day-to-day life. This is why many landlords choose to outsource their property maintenance to an agency such as Centrick – here are just some of the ways outsourcing your property maintenance to an agency can be genuinely transformative to your life.
The Costly Reality of Property Maintenance
Property maintenance issues can range from small problems such as faulty light bulbs and leaking taps, to huge problems such as cracks in windows, broken boilers, and structural damage. These tasks can range drastically in repair costs, and these costs can accumulate quickly, especially when you have multiple properties to care for. From routine repairs to emergency fixes, landlords may find themselves spending more money than they initially budgeted, putting the profitability of your buy-to-let business at stake. After all, it is suggested that £30 billion is spent every year on maintenance repairs across the rental sector, demonstrating just how significant a financial drain property maintenance can be on your finances.
Outsourcing your property maintenance can help control these costs by providing stability through service agreements and negotiated rates. Professional maintenance services also come with the expertise to identify issues before they become major, expensive problems, taking a proactive approach to repair management. By addressing these issues early, you can save money in the long run, preventing costly, large-scale repairs. At Centrick, we provide both proactive maintenance support as well as reactive maintenance support for those unforeseen problems.
The Time-Consuming Nature of Property Maintenance
Property maintenance doesn’t only impact your finances, but it can be a significant time sink. Picking up with maintenance requests, coordinating contractors, gaining access to your properties and inspecting them can eat away at your precious time. This can be particularly burdensome if your buy-to-let properties are not your main priority, and instead a form of additional income on top of a regular job. You may find yourself unable to fully dedicate your time to your career with the constant threat of maintenance problems looming over you. The same goes for anyone who has built up a portfolio of properties over the last number of years or decades even if you’re not trying to work around a full time career – dealing with complex maintenance problems during your down time likely isn’t what you had in mind. This is why so many landlords outsource their property maintenance.
By outsourcing property maintenance, you can reclaim your time to focus on what matters to you – spending time with your family, growing in your career, or relaxing in your retirement. Professional property maintenance companies such as Centrick are equipped to handle the day-to-day issues that arise, freeing you to focus on expanding your real estate portfolio, finding new investment opportunities, and enjoying more leisure time.
Enhancing Tenant Satisfaction
Outsourcing property maintenance ensures that tenant requests are addressed promptly and professionally, and happy tenants are key to portfolio success. Happy tenants are more likely to stay in your properties, renew their leases, and maintain them in good condition. This leads to increased tenant satisfaction and retention, resulting in a steady rental income stream and reduced tenant turnover costs.
Tenant satisfaction when it comes to property maintenance is more important than ever. A survey conducted by Housemark shows that tenant satisfaction is steadily declining, dipping by 5 percentage points since 2020. Furthermore, less than two-thirds of tenants believe that their landlord actually listens and acts upon their requests. Outsourcing your maintenance and ensuring that your chosen agent has a comprehensive maintenance strategy in place can drastically enhance this waning tenant satisfaction by ensuring that residents at your properties receive prompt, professional responses to their maintenance queries. This may not be something that a stand-alone landlord with other responsibilities can fulfil.
Outsourcing Your Property Maintenance With Centrick
At Centrick, our Building and Estate Management team are able to assist landlords with portfolios of any size. We believe that property maintenance is vital for the success of any portfolio, and work alongside only the most trusted contractors to provide swift solutions to your property maintenance woes. Worried about not staying in the loop with your tenant’s maintenance requests? With FixFlo, you can stay up to date with any requests that have been submitted by your tenants and how the Centrick team have responded – it’s property maintenance made easy. For more information, simply fill out the form below to talk to a member of our team!
