How well you maintain a commercial property can determine how profitable it is, the size of maintenance bills, and the retention of your tenants.

However, at Azure, we’ve seen landlords or other commercial property managers sidestep maintenance work or try to cut corners, despite how important it is.

So, for the protection and longevity of your asset, what maintenance should you be doing?

Inspections
One of the worst things you can do for your commercial property investment is let it fall victim to the bystander effect.

Tenants have an obligation to report issues or damages within the property; however, there’s always the chance they won’t, or they’ll miss something small that will lead to something big (which means big bills!).

While there aren’t any legal requirements for landlords to carry out regular commercial property inspections, it’s a good idea to get into the habit to protect/preserve your investment through regularly scheduled inspections.

In these inspections, you’ll be able to identify any issues, uncover areas in need of repair and check on the quality of work performed on any previous maintenance done on the property.

Maintenance work
Repairs and maintenance on your commercial building are unavoidable. Fixtures and fittings fail or wear out, or external events happen causing damage to your building.

Having a trusted network of maintenance workers ensures that your property is kept in the best condition.

The question of who is responsible for then paying for this maintenance work can cause issues for many commercial tenants and landlords.

It all comes down to the wording of the lease, which will outline the specifics around who is responsible for the costs. However, many leases require tenants to pay monthly outgoings on top of their rent obligations.

In most cases, the tenant is required to reimburse the landlord for maintenance or repairs unless it is a capital expense (i.e., roof replacement).

Interior maintenance
Tenants have a responsibility to maintain the interior of the premises however where the landlord owns the flooring new carpet tiles are encouraged and upgrading light fittings to LED. Common areas are especially important to maintain with reception areas and lifts/stairwells. The clean and tidier it is makes tenants want to keep it to a certain standard and provides a good experience to visitors to the building.

Exterior maintenance
Maintaining the outside is just as important as the inside, although it is often overlooked! If you are conducting your own property inspection, it’s important to remember to add this one to the list.

When it comes to roofs, we recommend inspections be conducted by a specialist who can safely carry out the inspections and identify any areas of risk and provide a plan to repair and extend the life of your roof and advise when replacement may be required.

Things to look out for are:
• Chipped or damaged paint
• Windows – cracks or damaged seals
• Signage
• Landscaping
• Parking areas
• Any areas of rust

Tenant maintenance
The health, safety, and wellbeing of your tenants are among the most significant factors in the success of your investment. And how well you maintain your commercial property is directly linked to the retention of tenants.

If tenants don’t feel like believe their work environment is being properly looked after, or the details in the lease agreement aren’t being upheld, it will affect their decision to stay in the property long-term.

Make sure to check in with your tenants about any issues or disputes that need addressing.

At Azure, our wealth of experience also means we have pretty much seen it all.

We’ve seen numerous properties that have never been properly inspected. We’ve seen small roof leaks get ignored and turned into full roof failure resulting in tens and thousands of dollars in bills.

Our team has also seen landlords try to save some money and perform maintenance themselves. In one particular case, a landlord did their own painting and accidentally forget to use primer, causing flakes of paint to fall down in the tenant’s kitchen.

Sadly, we’ve seen landlords lose quality tenants purely because they didn’t uphold their obligations (including small ones!).

While our knowledge of the legal obligations of commercial property owners is sure to keep your asset protected, we also take careful care to ensure the smaller (but equally important) steps are taken.