Making sure your homes are ready for the cold snap

Temperatures have plummeted in recent weeks and while, for the time being, milder weather is on the cards, it pays to be ready when the mercury falls. NRLA chief product officer James Kent shares his advice 

Robust winter maintenance checks on your rental properties are always advised as we head into the winter months, but it is also a good idea to think about the specific impact of cold weather on your tenants.  

It is vital that your properties are warm and well insulated, and that appliances are in good working order, both to keep tenants warm, but also to keep bills down, during the ongoing costs of living crisis. 

You must make sure you have organised an annual service for your boiler. This should be carried out by a qualified Gas Safe engineer and can be organised by us here at Safe2.  

This is a legal requirement and can highlight any underlying issues – as well as ensuring it is less likely to break down over winter. 

If you have an open fire, make sure the chimney is swept and check your carbon monoxide and smoke alarms, as fuel-burning appliances, such as log burners, are more likely to be in use in the colder months.  

You should also check radiators and bleed them if they are not heating properly. 

Protecting against frozen pipes

Burst pipes (caused by freezing water expanding) can cause huge amounts of damage to your property and lead to costly repair bills so it is important to make sure your storage tanks and pipes are properly lagged, and that unheated areas are properly insulated.  

You should also insulate and any garden taps for the same reason.  

Keeping warm

It is not recommended for the temperature in homes to fall below 18 degrees so as well as making sure your boiler is in good working order there are other things you can do to keep the cold out and the heat in. These include:  

• Tackling draughts: You can use a self-adhesive draught seal on your windows, which is easy to apply and will help keep cold air out. You can also use draught excluders at the bottom of internal and external doors to prevent cold air circulating.  

• Thinking about window coverings: If you provide window coverings in your rental property, you could put in thermal curtains to keep the heat in – and you could also install a curtain behind the front door for the same reason.   

• Looking at your radiators: Aluminium ‘radiator roll’ can be installed behind radiators to reflect heat back into the room. Also check furniture isn’t pushed up against radiators as this can prevent warm air circulating.  

• Introducing floor coverings: Covering hard floors with rugs, or using carpet can help keep your property warmer for tenants.  

Cold weather also means tenants are more likely to keep windows closed, which can increase condensation.  

Making sure extractor fans and trickle vents are working properly, and reminding tenants to use them, can prevent moisture build-up and the damp and mould problems that often follow. Including ventilation checks in your winter inspection is a simple way to avoid issues later.  

The NRLA’s award-winning training academy offers a damp and mould awareness course which you can find out more about here. 

The festive break

Now is also a good time to remind tenants that they should let you know if they will be away for an extended period of time over the festive season.  

If so, ask them to time the heating to come on for an hour a day - or similar – to prevent burst pipes. 

If they are away for a significant amount of time you could ask them to switch the water off. 

If you are going away yourself, make sure your tenants have a trusted contact that they can call in an emergency, along with a list of emergency numbers for contractors – and that they know basics such as where the stopcock is, how the boiler works and how to change the thermostat. 

Accessing funding

Of course, staying warm isn’t all about home improvements. Some tenants are anxious about putting the heating on due to rising bills – however there is help out there. 

Financial support is available to eligible people through: 

• Cold weather payments 

• Winter fuel payments 

• The Warm Home discount scheme. 

Some energy suppliers also offer their own grant schemes to support struggling households. Localised grants are also available in some areas of the country. 

If you think your tenant may be eligible for any of this support you can signpost them to Citizens Advice, which has full details of support packages available and links to the relevant sites. Find out more here. 

TOP TIP: Broken boiler? Could it be your condensate pipe?

When you receive the dreaded phonecall from tenants complaining their boiler has broken during freezing temperatures, it is worth checking your condensate pipe before calling out your gas engineer. 

Condensing boilers are the most common type of boiler – in around three quarters of all properties – with the condensate pipe a white plastic pipe leading through the closest outside wall and into a drain. 

When temperatures fall below freezing the water in this pipe often freezes causing the boiler to malfunction and the heating and hot water to fail.  

The good news is this is not difficult to tackle yourself by thawing the pipe using either hot (but not boiling) water, a microwavable heat pack, hairdryer, or a hot water.  

Once the ice has melted you should check the operating instructions or the manufacturer’s website to restart the boiler. Only if it doesn’t restart should you need to call a gas engineer. 

For more information on preparing your rental homes for the winter months click here. 

How Safe2 can help you stay compliant

Part of the NRLA family, Safe2 is a digital platform providing of all forms of property safety certification. A one-stop-shop for all things compliance, it sends alerts when documents are due to expire, organises inspections and repairs and issues certificates. All NRLA members are entitled to exclusive discounts when using any of Safe2’s services. Visit nrla.org.uk/safe2 

Safe2 also offers a free alert system, letting you now when your essential inspections are due. To sign up fill in our tracking form here.