TASK 1


Repairing houses has been made mandatory for landlords as stated in UK law. Specifically, the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 have been instrumental in making this aspect become an obligation on the part of the landlords. The tenants on the other hand, have the similar obligation to report the areas of the house that needs repairing. It is also required of them to notify them as soon as possible. The need for the tenant to actually inform the landlord forms the latter’s liability to the former. This means that once the tenant has posted a notice of disrepair, then the landlord have to attend to this problem.


 


There are some forms of communications that are available for tenants in informing any type of disrepair in the house. The traditional means would be through written correspondence. This is rather the most convenient and certain way to convey a notice of disrepair to the landlord. In instances of a refusal of the landlord to mend the disrepair, the tenant could use this as evidence to courts if ever legal actions are taken. On the part of the landlords, the use of this written correspondence is a convenient way to keep a tangible and reliable record of any changes made in the house. Recently, social landlords now employ some sort of customer relationship management by instituting a customer assistance hotline. In this manner, the complaints held by the tenants could be forwarded to the landlord through the telephone. This provides additional convenience for the tenant, especially in terms of emergency repairs. However, installing this system would be rather pricey on the part of the landlords.



 


 


TASK 2


There are certain maintenance and repair methods that are available in the UK setting. These include day-to-day repairs, emergency repairs, planned maintenance, and cyclical maintenance. The day-to-day repairs constitute of refurbishing activities that would last over two weeks. This includes carpentry repairs, external repairs, and certain mending of fixtures inside the house. Normal areas that consume most of the day-to-day repairs include kitchen and bathroom maintenance.


On the other hand, emergency repairs would be carried out overnight at the most. The landlord would be considerably liable on this part considering that such instances that require this kind of repairs would be rather severe. Such instances would be loss of amenities like the service of water, electricity, heating, and gas. Other areas includes gas leakages or pipe breakage in the house and leaks on the roofing. Basically, these types of repairs are covered by those disrepairs that pose danger to the tenant.


Planned maintenance is carried out by the landlord by implementing regular monitoring of the life cycle of certain areas of the dwelling based on the agreement between the tenant and them. This means that this is done through routine checks and carried out sparingly as areas and amenities of the house tend to become obsolete.


This is often confused with cyclical maintenance. This type of maintenance, on the other hand, is a way for landlords to improve the aesthetic value of their property. This is carried out at a specified period and constitutes major changes in the house.  


 


TASK 2A


Looking at the discussions above, it appears that cyclical maintenance and planned maintenance are to be considered capital expenditures. Essentially, these forms of maintenance are carried out by the landlord to improve the value of his/her property. This means that the repairs made are not essentially a means of mending disrepair. Instead, it is a form of improving the property. As seen in the context of planned maintenance, the landlord is obligated to replace fixed assets because they have ceased to operate. Such examples of these fixed assets would be centralised air-conditioning or the central heating boilers. These add up to the overall value of the property, having newly acquired fixed assets. On a similar note, the case of cyclical maintenance also takes on an instance where the condition of the property is improved. Such activities that tend to be carried out in cyclical maintenance include repainting of the façade of the property, changes on fences and gateways, or redecorations in the property’s foyers. All in all, these two forms of repair methods reflect not only a means to address disrepair but also an improvement of the physical value of the property.    


 


 



 


TASK 3


Housing voids tend to be the problem for social landlords whose properties are located at a non-appealing part of the town. Voids in this context tend to become open to certain risks. Aside from having a clear and present risk of vandalism and squatting, presence of voids tends to become a maintenance nightmare for landlords.


Keeping a complete record on all the voids could minimise cost in managing these areas for the landlord. Maintenance could be easier given a documented system is provided. Moreover, some landlords maintain a system for key security. In this context, vandalism and squatting would be averted significantly.


  Some of the practices that social landlords take to minimise these is to let these areas on a much cheaper rate. On this case, certain parts of the populations would be able to afford housing. There have been instances where homeless individuals were offered to dwell in the property for a certain period. At this point, the maintenance of the property is kept within reasonable costs and at the same time addressing the social problem of homelessness. Other practices refer to this as a housing option called temporary accommodation.


        



Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com


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