Maintaining your property

Regularly checking the condition of your property and repairing any damage or wear and tear as soon as possible is important  (our ConsumerBuild website  has some great tips on maintenance).

Property inspections

Regular property inspections are a good way to spot any problems and keep in contact with your tenant. By law, you can’t do inspections more frequently than once in four weeks, except to check on work done by the tenant.

You need to give your tenant 48 hours’ written notice of an inspection.

Who does repairs and maintenance?

Landlords must maintain the property and make sure the locks and fastenings are adequate. That means doing any necessary repairs – and you must give the tenant 24 hours’ written notice of entry to repair.

You must also pay the tenant back for any urgent repair work the tenant had to have done, as long as the tenant made reasonable attempts to notify you before having the work done.

Tenants must notify their landlord immediately if something needs to be repaired. Sometimes tenants damage a property, or neglect to keep it clean and tidy. Then they are responsible for any damage that they, or their guests, cause – either intentionally or carelessly.

If you feel the problem can be solved (the damage repaired or the place tidied up), you can give the tenant a notice to fix / repair the damage (here’s a sample notice).

If the repair or damage is ongoing and amounts to a breach of the tenancy agreement, you can serve a notice giving them 10 working days' to get the work done. Remember that working days don’t include weekends or public holidays, so 10 working days would usually be a fortnight.

If you feel the problem can be solved (the damage repaired or the place tidied up), you can give the tenant a notice giving them 10 working days' to get the work done. Remember that working days don’t include weekends or public holidays, so 10 working days would usually be a fortnight.

If the work is not done within the 10 working days, then you can apply to the Tenancy Tribunal for:

• an order to do the repairs, or
• the tenancy to be ended for breaching the tenancy agreement, if it is decided the situation is serious enough.

Insurance

It’s important to insure your rental property against damage that may occur, either through accident or otherwise. Our information sheet What insurance do I need?, explains the insurance landlords and tenants should have, and what happens if an insurance company takes over a claim.