4 Reasons Your Flats Need Property Risk Management
If you are a block of flats owner, one of the most important thing to consider is commercial property risk management and insurance. Identifying risks before and minimising issues before they happen not only keeps you and your tenants safe from potential injury, but it will also reduce the risk of having to make a claim on your block of flats insurance. There are several risk assessments that you can complete to help you identify where you might best spend your time to protect your property. If you want risk management advice, please contact Flats Direct and we will be happy to help. . . we even have our own Online Risk Management Service that we make free to all of our clients. We have outlined four reasons why you should complete thorough property risk management below.
1. Reduces flood risk
Completing a thorough risk assessment helps you to discover potential issues with the property. This includes protecting yourself and your tenants from flood risk. When there is heavy rain, you need to make sure that your drainage system can handle it. Any problems with this can lead to flooding in your communal areas, and even in the basement or ground floor flats which has become a massive issue over the past few years. A consequence of this will be that tenants have to leave the building and you would lose rental income or fund relocation of tenants while the repair work is done. Property risk management and contingency planning helps anticipate these problems and allows you plan accordingly, meaning minimal disruption to you and your tenants.
2. Reduces the risk of accidents
As with flood risk, accidents can happen in a property if you have not undertaken thorough property risk management. This can range from anything including broken lifts to a slightly lifted carpet. If an injury occurs in the communal areas of your property, then it’s likely that the injured party will make a claim against you. This is a where a comprehensive block of flats insurance policy comes in. At Flats Direct, we understand the insurance needs of landlords and can make sure that you are protected from all potential risks. The first step is assessing the hazards within your building by completing landlord’s risk management assessments.
3. Prevents claims against the block management
As discussed previously, with proper commercial property risk management and insurance there is a reduced risk of claims being made against you. Not only does property risk management save you money in legal expenses, but it will also help with saving costs on renovation. Making fixes as they are required is more beneficial than allowing a bigger problem to arise and having to pay thousands of pounds in repairs. This is also a reason why you should include directors’ and officers’ within your block of flats insurance. Any decisions that you make regarding maintenance and property risk management can be disputed by your tenants. Because of this, they it’s possible that they can make a claim against you personally and you will need a Directors’ and Officers’ policy to help protect yourself. If you need further advice on how to protect those tasked with block management, contact us and we will be happy to help.
4. Helps a property to achieve full market value
Improving any property will likely lead to an increase in its market value. Property risk management allows you to identify areas of your property that need maintenance or upgrades and fix them before a problem arises. A well maintained property is going more likely to have a higher valuation than if it were run down and it might also make it easier for potential buyers to secure lending against a better maintained property. This also means that you are more likely to find tenants or enhance your rental income, as your block of flats will be a desirable place to live.
For more property risk management advice or to enquire about block of flats insurance, get in touch with us. Our team have expert knowledge on flats insurance and the latest industry regulations surrounding this. Call us on 0800 731 6242, email info@flatsdirect-uk.com or fill out our quick block insurance online quote.