News
Cold Weather Tips for Tenants
Tuesday 6th December 2022
Samantha Knight
We're coming to the end of 2022 and entering the winter period, which means icy cold days and nights for all. As a tenant it's very important to understand your responsibilities when it comes to maintaining your rental property throughout the cold weather period. Tenants who fail to take precautions and prepare correctly for winter could be held liable for any damages caused to the property during the cold weather. In order to help you avoid this, we've compiled 5 top tips for tenants this winter:
Know how to contact us
A surprising number of tenants nowadays don't actually have full contact details for their agent or are aware of opening hours or what constitutes an emergency. This is imperative throughout the winter period so that you have a point of contact in case anything goes wrong.
Maintenance can be reported into us via phone (01908 639098), Email: info@affinity-lettings.Co.uk, via the contact us page on our website or by sending a WhatsApp message to the office telephone number. It is often helpful to send in photos of the fault to add to the speed of rectifying the fault.
Our opening hours are Monday - Friday 9.30am - 5pm. If you have an emergency which cannot wait until the next working day please use the same contact methods to get in touch.
Be aware of potential flooding
The weather can be awful throughout the winter period, especially in the UK. Heavy rainfall can occur over the holiday period, so it is important that you are prepared for potential flooding. Check your exterior overflow pipes to ensure there is no freezing that could lead to pipe blockages and flooding, this can be caused a lot of the time by residents leaving their home for a period of time and leaving the heating off, causing pipes to freeze. Be sure that if you do go away you keep your heating running even at a low temperature. The flooding can damage both the rental property itself and some of your own personal belongings, so make sure that you have contents insurance and that it covers water damage.
Don't neglect the exterior
We mentioned in our last point how important checking the exterior overflow pipes on your rental property is, and the same goes for a number of aspects throughout the property's exterior. Be sure to check all external pipes (garden taps, overflow pipes etc) and even consider insulating them to decrease the risk of damage - simple foam insulation on outside piping can help massively. Another area of a property to check is the roof. You want to ensure that there are no tiles dislodged or cracks that have appeared, especially after windy weather. Spend some time gazing up at the roof from the ground to assess it.
Be prepared for power cuts
Winter weather can often cause power cuts for a large number of residents, so as a tenant it's important to be ready. As soon as you experience a power cut check the UK Power Networks website to see what is happing and keep up to date with the current situation. It could also be beneficial to contact your utility provider to see if there's anything they can do to help.
Stay warm!
This seems like the most obvious of all the tips in this article, but it is absolutely the most important. Some things you can do to ensure that you can stay warm in your home includes making sure all of your central heating and radiators are in good condition, draw you curtains and blinds to keep as much heat in as possible, keep your thermostat at a constant low heat for a more effective and less expensive way to keep the property warm throughout the day and night and closing doors - just to name a few. Slips and falls in the house often occur when we are cold.
Keep reading our daily blog on our website as social media for more tips on tenant safety. We have a whole section of our website dedicated to tenant safety with a whole host of videos to watch and fact sheets to download
Affinity; local letting agent, working with our tenants to keep them safe.
Looking for a property to rent in Milton Keynes? Contact Affinity today.