Residential care

Jill Wood, Managing Director of Signum Facilities Management, looks at the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on gaining access to residential properties to complete statutory testing and maintenance

When the world as we know it came to a grinding halt in March 2020 and the country was thrown into lockdown, you would have been forgiven for thinking the need to complete statutory testing – both on residential properties and commercial – had stopped, too.

This has been one of the biggest misconceptions to emerge in our industry during the pandemic and, especially in those early days when the nation was gripped with uncertainty, maintenance work in many residential properties was put on hold as landlords and tenants alike struggled to come to terms with the circumstances we all found ourselves in.

However, the fact is, nothing changed from a facilities management perspective.

Statutory testing has continued to be required throughout, along with the need to conduct regulatory maintenance tasks, inspections, and remedial work.

But, as the weeks passed, and landlords became more aware of the need to ensure continued compliance with regulation, another issue emerged – accessing tenants’ properties.

In the midst of a global virus pandemic, when many residents were being asked to stay at home, landlords’ duties to keep their premises safe became even more important.

Yet many residents were understandably nervous about allowing engineers into their homes at a time when they couldn’t even see their families.

Facilities management companies had to adapt fast – providing reassurance and empathy in what was, and continues to be, a challenging situation.

TAKING CONTROL
It would be easy for FM companies to get caught up in the chaos of the pandemic. However, it is important to remember the crucial role we play in helping landlords maintain the safety of their properties. And, at a time like this, when tenants are more likely to be in and around the home, that role has never been more important.

For us, this meant taking control of the situation and putting in place clear policies for residential property visits. Many of the landlords we work with were feeling nervous and wanted to protect their tenants from the risk of coronavirus.

We proactively tackled the issue by sharing our working policies and practices with them and their tenants, providing the reassurance they needed that our teams would access their properties in a safe, COVID -secure way.

WORKING PRACTICES
Key to gaining access to tenants’ properties is a conversation with the tenant in advance. We have taken this on ourselves, contacting residents directly on behalf of the landlords we work with to allay their concerns and assess their level of both risk and anxiety.

For example, how we approach a tenant who has a family member who’s required to shield would be different to how we would approach a young couple. Of course, the use of full PPE plays an important part in reassuring tenants, as does ensuring frequent hand-washing and the wiping down of any touchpoints with sanitiser.

All of these processes have become part of our day-to-day working practices at Signum. Additionally, each of our employees must complete a daily Covid assessment before starting work, ensuring nobody with any sign or symptom of the virus goes on site.

STRIKING A BALANCE
In recent months, as the lockdown has eased, gaining access to properties to conduct testing and maintenance had become an easier task, as people started to relax and become accustomed to having people in their home.

However, as the government’s guidance continues to change – with the ‘rule of six’ being recently introduced for example – we have found tenants are becoming increasingly nervous again.

This is understandable and, of course, both landlords and FM companies need to prioritise the health and wellbeing of tenants at all times, but this must not be at the expense of regulatory requirements.

Landlords are legally responsible for the proper maintenance of their properties. Manual inspections, such as EICR electrical testing and the safety checks and servicing of gas appliances, need to continue and have an important role to play in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of tenants, too.

It is our job as FM professionals to fulfil this role in a way that provides comfort, reassurance and empathy to tenants and landlords, in this strange new world.