A day of knocking on doors
Your inspector arrives at a block of sixty flats to inspect the flat entrance doors, working for a housing provider. The provider sent a letter a few weeks ago with a date. The inspector knocks on each door. Some residents are home and let them look. Many are at work. Some do not answer. One asks the inspector to come back after four. At the end of the day, a large share of the doors have not been inspected.
The inspector leaves calling cards. The office rings the provider to ask for help. A second visit is arranged, with the same result for a different set of flats. The housing officer asks for a list of which flats were attempted and when, and the list is on the back of a clipboard sheet.
Why access is the whole problem
Inspecting a flat entrance door usually needs the door opened, which needs the resident. Nothing about the current process makes it easy for residents to say when they will be in.
- One letter is sent weeks ahead with a single date.
- Residents cannot choose or change a time.
- No reminders are sent close to the day.
- No-access attempts are recorded on paper, if at all.
- The landlord cannot see progress by flat until the end.
What inspections are needed and what the landlord does about no-access flats is for the landlord and its advisers. We build the process for arranging access and recording attempts.
What repeated no-access costs
Each return visit costs inspector time and makes the job less profitable. Projects drag on for months. Landlords under pressure to show progress get frustrated with you, even though access is the root cause. And without a clear record of attempts, it is hard for anyone to show what was tried.
A resident access process for every block
We build a resident access process around the landlord's list of flats and your inspector's diary.
- The landlord's flat list is imported, with resident contact details where the landlord shares them and can lawfully do so.
- Each resident receives a letter and, where there is a mobile number, a text with a link to choose from available slots on the inspection days, or to call the office.
- Residents can change their slot through the same link. Reminders go the day before and on the morning.
- The inspector's app shows the day's appointments by floor, and records each attempt as inspected, no answer, refused or rearranged, with the time.
- No-access flats get a follow-up text with new slots, and a calling card with a QR code left at the door leads to the same booking page.
- The landlord sees a progress report by flat, with every attempt listed, and can export it.
| Step | Today | With the access process |
|---|---|---|
| Telling residents | One letter, one date | Letter and text with slots to choose |
| Changing times | Not possible | Through the same link |
| Reminders | None | Day before and morning |
| No-access record | Clipboard notes | Each attempt logged with time |
| Landlord view | At the end | Progress by flat at any time |
A block visit with booked appointments
Two weeks before the inspection days, residents receive the letter and text. Many book a slot, some pick evenings where you have offered them. On the day, the inspector works through booked flats by floor, knocks on the unbooked ones between appointments, and logs each attempt. No-access flats get a text that afternoon with new slots. The housing officer checks the progress report that evening and sees exactly where things stand.
What you end up with
Fewer wasted knocks and return visits. Residents who feel respected because they could choose a time. A landlord who can see progress and the record of attempts. And inspection projects that finish rather than drag on.
Is this how your block inspections go?
- Most of your time in blocks is spent knocking on doors.
- Residents get one letter with one date.
- No-access attempts are recorded on paper.
- Landlords ask you for progress lists you have to compile.
- Inspection projects need many return visits.