Portfolio managers have to keep a lot of plates spinning when they’re doing property portfolio management on commercial or residential properties. When they’ve got multiple dwellings or offices spread over a number of postcodes, it can be tricky keeping track of what’s happening with each one.
This can lead to standards slipping in the portfolio and, before they know it, they can have several properties failing to meet compliance guidelines set by the UK government. Failing to meet these standards can land them in trouble with the authorities and seriously endanger the welfare of their tenants.
Three tips for keeping a property portfolio compliant
Portfolio managers need to be constantly reviewing properties to make sure they’re fit and safe
Portfolio managers need to be constantly reviewing properties to make sure they’re fit and safe for human habitation. These checks are wide-ranging and include everything from drainage, heating, structural integrity, and fire safety.
Keeping on top of all these can be tricky. That’s why they’ve put together this article, which has the top three tips for keeping them property portfolio compliant.
1. Landlords! Get to know all the necessary legal guidance for the property portfolio management
When it comes to being a commercial or residential landlord, there’s a lot of legislation and legal requirements they need to adhere to. These regulations are there to primarily keep the tenants safe but they’re also designed to safeguard the properties and investment.
Having a thorough understanding of all the different regulations the properties need to follow is a good way to avoid getting blindsided by an issue that could end up costing they a lot of money.
Becoming an encyclopedia of property regulation knowledge isn’t easy. But putting the work in and keeping a detailed record of all the properties legal requirements will help them avoid trouble in the future.
The two key pieces of guidance they should familiarize themselves with as a landlord are the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Guidance for Landlords: Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018.
This documentation lays out the responsibilities as a landlord and what checks they must do to make the homes habitable and safe.
The 2005 Fire Safety Order is solely focused on fire safety. To keep the property portfolio fire safe, conducting regular fire risk assessments with an accredited fire risk assessor like Total Fire Group is the best way to make sure all the properties are fire safety compliant.
The Homes Act 2018 covers everything from the structural integrity of a building to its heating and plumbing system. The goal of the act is to guarantee tenants are living in humane and liveable conditions. If a house has no running water, the heatings broken or windows are smashed, these are all unacceptable and need to be fixed if tenants are living there.
Knowing what the responsibilities are as a property manager means they can act quickly when they see any of the properties showing signs of the above. Being proactive is better than reactive, and it could save them a headache in the long run by keeping on top of these compliance issues.
2. Keep a central database of all the property information (preferably digitally)
There’s nothing worse than trying to find something important, like a document, when they really need it. Things like that have an annoying habit of disappearing when they need them the most. This is especially true when it comes to the documentation they need to keep the property portfolio compliant. Managing multiple properties can be very confusing. If they don’t have one central hub or database where they can easily access all the information they need, it can make property management a nightmare.
Using a digital, cloud-based software is, in the opinion, the best way to store the portfolio information. It means it’s on hand at all times and it won’t get destroyed if a computer breaks or the office floods.
For fire safety management, they can use fire safety software like the tool Aurora to manage all their fire risk assessments in one place. Aurora automates the portfolio’s fire safety management and gives them one less thing to worry about. However, they decide to organize the portfolio’s information, make sure it’s structured, easily accessible, and they’ve got backup.
3. Make sure they have a digital paper trail for all the compliance work they’ve done
Another advantage of having the portfolio’s data stored on a piece of software is that it gives they an easy way to look at any property’s history to see what work has been done.
It also lets they prove to external auditors quickly and easily that they’ve done the work they’ve been required to do. Fumbling through papers and incomplete documents isn’t a great way to keep a record of all the assessments. By storing them on software, like Aurora for example, they have clear evidence that they’ve undertaken any work they’re required to.
This history can also help inform future portfolio plans. By analysing trends in the portfolio, like when things break, when things need changing, etc, they can be proactive in remedying these issues by sending out people to fix things before they break.
Property portfolio management: best to manage fire safety
If they’re looking for an easy and stress-free way to manage the portfolio's fire safety, Total Fire Group has several options that could work for them.
They could partner with them to use the fire safety consultancy service or hire them to undertake regular fire risk assessments.
