Landlords urged to prepare for winter emergencies

News Category: Management

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The National Landlords Association (NLA) has advised landlords to take precautionary measures ahead of the cold winter period.

Both landlords and letting agents should ensure that tenants are equipped with the knowledge and resources to handle an emergency quickly, the group suggested.

Tenants often enquire about property information, such as how to turn off the water supply, when they move into a property, but the onus is on landlords to ensure that appropriate action can be taken in an emergency, the NLA said.

Landlords could inform tenants of the location of a property's water supply in the event of a pipe bursting, how they would bleed a radiator if required and which electrician and electricity provider they would contact in the event of a power cut.

David Salusbury, chairman of the NLA, said: "Landlords may save themselves thousands of pounds in repair bills, not to mention keeping their tenants safe."

Meanwhile, as energy bills are likely to increase over the coming months, property research by Lloyds TSB, Tickbox.net and Opinion Matters has shown that three-quarters of Britons believe an energy-efficient boiler is the most cost-effective environmental improvement to a property.

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