Unless you've suffered water damage in one of your properties you may just ignore this article, but did you know that during just one year in the UK 1 in 8 homes suffer a burst pipe that's around 25,000,000 homes and some of those could be yours this year.
You don't need me to tell you a burst pipe is, of course, a problem, but it does not need to be if you can turn the mains water off quickly and easily then the damage will be extremely limited and maybe not at all.
I would assume that you do make all your tenants aware of where they can locate a stopcock in and emergency and in fact what one is and what it does, this is normally done when performing a check- in or details provided within a welcome pack. However, during a check- in most tenants are not really listening and most will admit to not reading a welcome pack.
Any plumber will tell you that when you have a home that has had a burst pipe, the first item they need to locate is the stopcock, but what if this can't be located so easily Some stopcocks are under the floorboards or at the back of cupboards, out of sight out of mind. For every hour that you cannot locate the stopcock, 400 litres of water could be flooding into the home!
At Everything Lettings while providing Out Of Hours cover, the first thing we do in any water leak call big or small is help the tenants locate the stopcock and turn off the water until a contractor can attend. We believe, having this expertise in our call handlers has saved our clients Landlords thousands of pound over the last few months alone.
As well as the location of the stopcock, turning it off can also be a 'stiff' ordeal, Stopcocks are notoriously difficult to turn if they have not been touched in a while, and realistically, how many of your Landlords/tenants or property managers 'test' the stopcock now and again Not many I can assure you, yet why do most of us check our fire alarms and C02 detectors I would say apart from the obvious that it could save our lives, another reason is its right in front of us I would bet, if you had to remove the floorboards or go under the sink to check your fire alarm or CO2 detector it would not get checked very often. And another thing, stopcocks do not bleep annoyingly when they need attention do they
Imagine the horror of your tenants seeing a burst pipe leak water into the home, then Everything Lettings call handler helping them by finding the stopcock, only to learn that it won't turn! It is a known fact in the plumbing industry that brass stopcocks can often seize up and leave the home unprotected from the risk of water damage. At Everything Lettings our Out Of Hours call handlers while talking your tenants through finding the stopcock are also engaging the help of a plumber to attend quickly, as all our contractors are instructed immediately via our web based portal. Having a contractor on site quickly, will minimise the damage done from water leaks.
A few of you may still be thinking, "You could turn a stopcock off easily, even if it is a little jammed" so why panicyou may be wrong, in fact, you probably are wrong. On many occasions when talking to tenants the stopcock has simply will not move has broken or snapped off due to the wear and tear sometimes pure elbow grease isn't what's necessarily required. But having a qualified contractor on site quickly defiantly is.
That's why for just a small monthly fee you can have access to our Out of Hours cover, then be safe in the knowledge your calls 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 quickly within your pre agreed and authorised Service Levels.
Why not speak to us and find out how we can help you provide emergency care during 2015.
Everything Lettings - Tel 0844 272 2442 Roy Fuller Mobile -07970 840561
E: roy@everything-lettings.co.uk
W: www.everything-lettings.co.uk
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