A folder of out-of-date certificates
The leases in a multi-let industrial estate require tenants to keep certain things in order within their own units and to show evidence when asked: their own contents and liability insurance, servicing records for equipment they installed, test certificates for electrical installations they added, sometimes fire risk assessments for their operations. The landlord's insurer and its own health and safety adviser occasionally ask to see the position.
The property manager opens the folder. Some certificates are from three years ago. Some tenants never sent anything. One sent a certificate for a different address.
Why tenant evidence is never current
What each tenant must provide depends on the lease, the use and the landlord's own procedures, which your advisers help set. The admin problem is that nobody asks at the right time, and nothing tells you when something expires.
| Evidence | Why it goes stale |
|---|---|
| Tenant's insurance certificates | Renewed annually, never resent |
| Servicing of tenant equipment | Carried out, certificate kept by the tenant |
| Electrical tests for tenant installations | Done on the tenant's cycle, not shared |
| Tenant's own risk assessments | Updated internally, landlord not told |
| Contacts and keyholders | Change without notice |
Requests go out in a round-robin email when someone has time, and replies arrive as attachments in the property manager's inbox.
What the gaps cost
When the landlord's insurer, a buyer's surveyor or your health and safety adviser asks for the position, it takes days to answer, and the answer is patchy. Real risks inside units, such as equipment that has not been serviced, go unnoticed. Property managers spend hours chasing and filing. And tenants who are diligent get the same chaser as those who are not, which irritates them.
The information also matters at lease end. Knowing what a tenant installed, and whether it was maintained, is useful when discussing reinstatement and condition.
Inherited leases make the picture uneven. A building bought five years ago may have tenants on leases drafted by three different landlords, each asking for different evidence. Without a list of what each lease requires, the property manager asks every tenant for everything, and the tenants who are not obliged to provide something push back, which makes the next request harder.
The tenant document portal we build
- For each tenant, the evidence they have agreed to provide is recorded from the lease and your procedures, with how often it is due.
- Requests go out on schedule to the right contact, with a link to upload documents. No login to remember, just a secure link tied to that tenant.
- Uploaded documents are read with AI extraction to capture the document type, address, dates and expiry, and a person confirms anything unclear.
- Reminders go before expiry and after, at intervals you set, and escalate to the property manager if nothing arrives.
- Each unit shows a simple status: current, due soon, expired, never received.
- A report by building and tenant is available for insurers, advisers or buyers, with the documents attached.
Which evidence you require, and what you do if a tenant does not provide it, are decisions for you and your advisers. The portal makes asking and recording routine.
What the property manager sees
A status board for each building instead of a stale folder. Chasing happens without anyone writing emails. Diligent tenants get a quick upload link and no unnecessary reminders. When someone asks for the position, the report is ready.
Keyholder and emergency contact details can be confirmed through the same portal, so the out-of-hours team has current numbers for every unit.
Is this your situation?
- Tenant certificates in your files are out of date.
- Some tenants have never sent the evidence their lease requires.
- Chasing is a round-robin email once a year.
- Insurer or adviser requests take days to answer.
- Keyholder contacts for units are unreliable.