Letting agent doesn't want to do property inspection

[amariino 7]

My house had not had a property inspection since the tenants moved in, and the inspection it should have had is now four months overdue. The letting agent says it's not going to do one at the moment because of advice on this.

To enter somebody's home is allowed to buy a property, to sell a property, to rent a property and for a whole range of other reasons. If they use the argument "it's not essential" that's not true because a property inspection is essential to check that there is nothing that needs repairing urgently that the tenants may not have noticed or may have ignored. If they use the argument "we don't want to harm the tenants" not only is this argument inconsistent (because they enter people's homes to rent or sell properties, or do maintenance) but it is also possible that there is something that needs fixing that if not fixed will endanger the tenants. To me it just seems lazy that they don't want to do one. It seems that people are using Covid as an excuse to not work (I don't feel "safe"). What do others think?

[DerekT 216]

Sounds a bit lazy to me too. As long as they give the tenants notice and follow the rules (hands, face, space) and wipe down anything they've touched (door handles, windows etc), then can't see why they can't do a quick inspection.

Perhaps call another local agent and see what their policy is? 

[amariino 7]

That's a good idea.

I've also just seen that the government doesn't advise against it, but seems to consider routine inspections as essential, as long as you follow the procedures to limit virus spread:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-and-renting-guidance-for-landlords-tenants-and-local-authorities/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-landlords-and-tenants

[julia urquhart 173]

My agent stopped doing inspections due to Covid. We visited several recently for maintenance reasons and discovered a whole host of problems that had not been reported or dealt with. These included a broken man hole cover / a cat(!) / a smashed cistern lid / a dripping tap / a faulty light pull / leaking gutter. None of the tenants had a problem with us visiting but had not bothered to report the problems. We have now insisted that inspections resume.

I agree, this is people using Covid as an excuse.

[dino v 145]

One of our agents did it via video call with the tenant. Seems a perfectly pragmatic way to do it with some tenants that reduces time and risk for everyone involved. Where that's not possible, I'd expect them to do it in person, as it's an important safety consideration for a tenant who may not realise that something is a problem. We've had agents pick up issues and you can't believe the tenant hadn't mentioned it previously so you could get it fixed