Investing in property is a popular way to protect your money and make it work for you. But it’s not something you should rush into because being a landlord is more work than you think. 

There are a lot of factors to consider before you invest in a property, and it’s important that you understand your responsibilities too. You can’t just buy a property and then rent it out, it’s down to you to make sure that it’s safe. There are laws in place to ensure that all rental properties have been through all of the right safety checks. If you skip any of this, you will quickly find yourself in a lot of legal trouble, so it’s vital that you understand your responsibilities before you invest in property. These are the important safety checks that all property investors have to carry out.

Boiler Inspections

Whether you are getting new heating equipment fitted or just trying to see how efficient your current boiler is, it’s important that the gas installation on your property has been inspected. You can’t install something without having this done. The only people who are allowed to do this are registered engineers with Gas Safe UK. These inspections need to be carried out regularly too, so before you replace anything you should check the date of the last inspection and try to get an appointment for another one straight away. If you don’t check the boiler and heating systems once a year, you may be breaking your obligations.

Electrical Inspections

Just like any boiler system, you must ensure that all of the electrical installations on your property are up to date with inspections. You need to call in an electrician once a year and get them to check over your systems. They will then be able to get a EICR to prove that your building is safe. Faulty electrics can cause serious injury and even death, so it’s vital that you don’t skip this safety check.

Fire Safety

Fire checks are crucial if you want to maintain safety in your property. You are obliged to make sure that all of the smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors are working properly. This is a simple check and you can even ask the tenants to quickly check them once a year so they can be replaced if needed. However, you also need to make sure that people can easily evacuate the building in the event of a fire. In some cases, this may mean making alterations to the building if the exit points are not laid out in a safe way. This is one of the big factors to consider before buying a property because making big chances can be very expensive.

Asbestos

It’s easy to forget about asbestos, but it actually has the potential to cause major illness if you are exposed to it too much. All buildings built before 2000 should have an asbestos survey carried out by a registered person because this material is dangerous and needs to be handled carefully. You can’t just ignore this either. There are plenty of rules in place that ensure all landlords are dealing with asbestos properly, so it’s vital that you read up on these laws before buying your property.

There are a lot of factors to consider before you invest in a property, and it’s important that you understand your responsibilities too. You can’t just buy a property and then rent it out, it’s down to you to make sure that it’s safe. This includes everything from boiler safety to hiring a company like https://www.pestcontrolexperts.com/local/arkansas/ to deal with pests that have become present in the property. There are laws in place to ensure that all rental properties have been through all of the right safety checks. If you skip any of this, you will quickly find yourself in a lot of legal trouble, so it’s vital that you understand your responsibilities before you invest in property. These are the important safety checks that all property investors have to carry out. 

Before you jump into property investment, make sure that you fully understand your safety responsibilities as a landlord.