Do you think you have a duty of care for your Tenants and Landlords outside of your working day

Duty of care is a difficult term to define as there isn't a set definition of the concept (except within safety legislation). However, duty of care does come under the concept of negligence, if you do not have Out of Office cover for your tenants and Landlords is this considered appropriate or not appropriate. If not appropriate, are you considered to be negligent if you're Landlords or tenants need help if something goes wrong and you are not around to help them

Everything Lettings believe there are four key factors that are essential in deciding whether or not someone is negligent. They are:

1. duty of care
2. standard of care
3. breach of duty of care
4. harm or loss.

Everything Lettings believe: A duty of care exists when someone's actions could reasonably be expected to affect other people. If someone is relying on you to look after a property and its tenants for them, and that reliance is, in the circumstances, reasonable, then it will generally be the case that you owe them a duty of care. However, you need to be clear about exactly what the nature of the care or support is that you are providing, and on which the person is relying.

Everything Lettings believe: Standard of care refers to what is expected by your landlords and tenants, this is not about having to be the perfect agent but about being good enough and providing your services as they are expected. Landlords when making decisions regarding whether or not to use your services, will look at if you can provide a reasonable standard of care when looking after properties for them this includes many factors such as:

1. laws and regulations
2. Reasonable costs for maintenance repairs
3. Help for your tenants in emergency situations both in and out of hours
4. Making sure your landlord assets are properly looked after at all times

A breach of duty of care exists when it is proven that the person who is negligent has not provided the appropriate standard of care. That will be, in your case your agency if it has done something that it shouldn't have done or failed to do something they should have done. Does not having Out of hours help consist of being negligent if something was to go wrong

Ask yourself what could be the consequences of the below by not have Out of Hours cover:

1. Leaving a water leak at the property from Saturday until Monday morning before attending to it
2. Leaving a tenant with a complete electrical failure
3. Leaving a tenant without heating and hot water in adverse weather conditions
4. Leaving a tenant to secure a property after storm or invasive damage
5. Leaving a tenant without a functional toilet if the only one at the property.

These are just some of the issue that can be dealt with by having Out of hours cover, and in turn providing a duty of care for your Landlords and tenants.

At Everything Lettings we provide Out of Hours cover for many agents and at very low costs. Please be aware that not all calls taken need contractors to attend, believe it or not in most cases just having someone to talk to and provide help over the phone is enough to elevate many of the above scenarios.

That's why at Everything Lettings all our phone lines for Out of Hours cover are manned by our fully trained operators who provide a sympathetic and helpful response to any client emergency, and if needed will locate a qualified engineer to deal with the situation within your pre agreed and authorised Service Levels.

Why not speak to us and find out how we can help you provide duty of care in 2015.

Everything Lettings - Tel 0844 272 2442 Roy Fuller Mobile -07970 840561
E: roy@everything-lettings.co.uk
W: www.everything-lettings.co.uk