How often can I carry out checks on my HMO?

Question

Answer

If you are concerned that your tenants are causing damage to your property, it is understandable that you want to check on them as often as possible. However, constant visits isn’t likely to instil a very welcoming or trusting relationship between you and your tenants, and could actually contravene on the terms of your tenancy agreement!

By law, every tenancy agreement has to contain a clause called the 'covenant of quiet enjoyment'. This allows your tenant to live in your property undisturbed, and means that you as a landlord are not able to do anything that will adversely affect their occupation of the property.

Constant visits – whether you believe it is justified for the sake of the property’s upkeep or not – could be seen as a breach of this section of the tenancy agreement. It is illegal and could land you with a criminal charge.

It is still wise to carry out a check of your property on a monthly basis, and make sure you have these checks written into your tenancy agreement from the start. These regular checks give you an opportunity to not only do a sweep of the property and make sure that your tenants are keeping the property in order, but also allows you to carry out regular maintenance checks, such as testing all smoke alarms, giving any appliances a once-over and check that everything is in good and safe working order.

It’s also wise to catch up with your tenants and make sure that they are happy with how the property is being managed and that they don’t have any concerns.