5 Reasons Why You Should Be Doing Regular Commercial Property Inspections

Property inspections are an often overlooked part of managing a commercial property. Unlike residential property, there are no legal requirements to carry out commercial or industrial property inspections. However, while you don’t have to inspect your properties regularly (or at all), there are a number of crucial reasons why you should. In fact, almost every commercial property that we bring on board has never had a property inspection before. And, unfortunately, this can cost the landlord quite a bit of money in rectifying issues that could have been dealt with years ago. A great example is a recent block of properties that needed all the switchboards replaced to the tune of $15,000…Here are five reasons why you should be inspecting your commercial properties.

1. Check the Condition of Your Property

Unless you regularly check on your property, you won’t have any idea of its condition. Is the building experiencing wear and tear that needs to be addressed, or are there maintenance issues that need to be fixed? Dealing with these early, when they are small, can save a significant amount of money. For example, small roof leaks can turn into full roof replacements – costing tens of thousands! And, if you have had maintenance done, it’s a good opportunity to check the quality and standard of the work (and keep your contractors honest). If there’s a body corp, are they maintaining the areas that they are responsible for? Can you see new risks or hazards that need to be added to the body corp risk register? You can also check if the BWOF is up to date.

2. See What’s Going On

A commercial property inspection is a perfect chance to meet with your tenants in person and check whether the property is being used as it should be. Is the tenant using the property for their specified use? Changes to specified use can affect the landlord’s insurance and need to go through a council consent process .Some businesses, like childcare centres, need a license to operate. When you’re at the property, we recommend checking your tenants are meeting these license requirements. For tenants operating a food business, are they maintaining an A or B grade? Are they following health and safety requirements? This includes checking that fire egresses and emergency exits aren’t being blocked. Finally, you can get a good idea of whether the tenant’s business is going well. Look out for whether they have low stock or if it’s a customer-facing premises, how many people are in the store.

3. Improve Tenant Retention

Finding new tenants can be a costly, time-consuming task, which can leave your property vacant for a period of time. So, if you’ve got good tenants, then you definitely want to hang on to them. Having a well-maintained property and tenants that feel like they’re being looked after goes a long way to retaining them long-term. Your property is their place of work and where they spend a significant amount of time, so it needs to be a nice environment. Things like leaks that aren’t fixed, broken heating or aircons, or at the extreme end of the scale – black mould – doesn’t help! On the flip side, when it comes to finding tenants for your property, prospective tenants will notice if it’s poorly maintained.

4. Assist with Dispute Management

If there is a disagreement about the condition of your property, it is tough to solve it without evidence. A commercial property inspection gives you a snapshot of how the property looked, what it is being used for, any known maintenance issues, and anything else you want to record. This is incredibly helpful when settling disputes with tenants or contractors.

5. Look After Your Asset

Ultimately, your commercial property is an extremely valuable asset. And, like anything, if it’s not looked after, it will devalue, and preventable issues can turn into expensive bills. There’s only so much you can do from afar. If you’re not regularly checking in on your property and your tenants, then you’re potentially putting your asset at risk. So, one of the best investments you can make is to get a commercial property manager (like us) to inspect your property.

Our Commercial Property Inspections

As property inspections are so critical, we have it written into our management contracts that these will be done every six months on your property. When we’re at your property, we now use an app that allows us to take photos and videos of key areas, which, along with our checklists and notes, is turned into a report and emailed to you. This provides an important snapshot of the condition of your property for your reference. We also highlight things that need to be addressed in both the short and long term. And, since we’ve done thousands of inspections, we know exactly what to look for. If you’re not doing regular inspections of your commercial properties or haven’t done one in a while, get in touch and let’s have a chat.