Commercial Property Maintenance: Best Practices for Owners and Tenants
Category Commerical Property News
Property maintenance is essential; regular checkups, services, and fixes can prevent significant and costly failures that could otherwise disrupt business operations. Whether you're leasing out your own investment commercial property, or you're renting a space instead of buying, it's vital to go through the agreement thoroughly so that you know what maintenance you're responsible for and what is left to the other party.
What is The Meaning Of Commercial Maintenance?
Buildings that aren't correctly maintained can lead to huge problems for both the landlord and the tenant. Commercial maintenance is the practice of ensuring that commercial buildings are safe and functional for the people in them and that everything complies with the relevant property laws. This extends to office space, warehouses, retail outlets, and industrial plants.
Commercial maintenance also includes maintaining machinery and equipment, as well as different work areas and parking lots.
It's important not to just wait until something gets a hole in it or breaks to conduct maintenance...
What Is Preventative Maintenance For Commercial Buildings?
Preventative maintenance comes in different forms that includes:
- Routine Maintenance
This refers to maintenance that needs to be done in a timely manner. For example, servicing and deep cleaning machines. It's important to schedule HVAC system checks, plumbing inspections, and roof maintenance to prevent leaks.
- Proactive Replacements
You don't need to wait until something is completely broken to replace it. Proactive replacements refers to replacing components that are worn down before they break in order to prevent any extended downtime for a business.
Putting together a commercial building maintenance schedule is essential to keep track of all preventative maintenance procedures.
So, who's responsible for what in a landlord/renter commercial property relationship? It does come down to the contract that's in place - it should state clearly which party is going to take care of different types of maintenance and fixes.
Commercial Property Owners
The owner of a commercial property is responsible for the tasks that need to be conducted in order to keep the property in a condition that it was rented for.
This includes taking care of the general wear and tear that a property can experience such as repairing roof leaks, damp, exterior painting, and fence repairs.
The landlord is responsible for ensuring that the property complies with health and safety regulations at the time of tenant occupation.
They must also pay the taxes relating to the commercial property, including municipal rates and taxes, so that the business can run efficiently.
Explore the most lucrative commercial property types for investors here.
Tenants In Commercial Property
The tenant is responsible for any damages that happen to the property due to their negligence - tenants need to take proper care of the space. So, if a fire breaks out due to a machine not being properly looked after, the tenant would be responsible for fixing the damages. However, if a fire breaks out because of electrical faults, the landlord would be responsible.
Therefore the tenant needs to put together a commercial building maintenance checklist to ensure that the right precautions are being taken to reduce any risk on their side.
Taking care of the property to reduce the wear and tear aspect is essential. This can include general cleaning and ensuring that work is conducted in a way that does not actively damage the building. For example, if while moving desks in an office the carpet rips, the tenant is responsible for fixing that damage.
The tenant is also responsible for reporting any issues, such as leaks. If they do not do this, they could be responsible for fixing the resulting damage because they were negligent.
Any changes to the property - such as painting or adding nails to the wall - needs to be cleared by the landlord first.
Discover more about how to optimise office space here.
Landlords and tenants should keep an open channel of communication so that both parties are aware of commercial property repairs and maintenance. This is where a commercial property specialist comes in. Having a managing agent who is well-versed in the rights and responsibilities of both the landlord and the renter is a huge advantage. OfficePlace provides a turnkey solution to clients in respect of their commercial property needs, including organising commercial property inspection services to make sure the space is well taken care of.
Author: OfficePlace