Two hundred properties, one office manager
You carry out landlord gas safety checks for a mix of private landlords and letting agents. Each property has a due date. Each visit needs a tenant to let you in. Each record needs a copy for the landlord, sometimes the agent, and the tenant as the landlord's process requires. Then next year it starts again.
The engineer does the check in under an hour. The admin around it takes longer.
And when a landlord sells a property or switches agent, the office often finds out only when a text bounces or a tenant says they have never heard of you.
Why this work is admin-heavy
Landlord work is repetitive in shape but messy in detail. Contact details change, agents change, tenants move out. Records need to go to several people, and each landlord has their own preference. The next due date matters to the landlord, but they rely on you or their agent to remember it.
The records themselves are usually fine. The engineer knows the job. It's everything either side that falls on the office.
| Step | Where it goes wrong |
|---|---|
| Due date | Tracked in a spreadsheet |
| Tenant access | Phone tag |
| Record completion | Written up after the visit |
| Copies | Sent to one person, not all |
| Next year | Relies on the landlord asking |
Tenancy changes add another layer. A tenant moves out, a new one moves in, and the contact details on file are now wrong. The agent knows, the landlord might know, and you find out when you text someone who no longer lives there.
What the admin costs
Office time on phone tag and forwarding. Wasted visits when tenants aren't home. Landlords who can't find their record ring you. And every property that lapses to another engineer because you didn't remind them is repeat work lost.
What landlords must do, and when, is for them and their advisers. Our job is to make your part reliable.
There is also the risk of a date slipping. If the renewal visit is booked late and then the tenant cancels, the time left before the record is due can disappear quickly. Landlords rely on you to raise that early, and they remember when you do not.
The landlord flow we build
- Property register: each property is recorded with landlord, agent if any, tenant contact, appliances and due date.
- Due list: properties coming due are listed well ahead, and the landlord or agent is asked to confirm access arrangements.
- Tenant booking: the tenant gets a text with slots, books one, and gets reminders.
- On-site record: the engineer completes the record on their phone or tablet, with appliance details carried over from last year for them to check.
- Distribution: the completed record is sent to the landlord, agent and anyone else your rules say, and logged.
- Renewal: the next due date is set from the record and the cycle starts again.
The engineer's findings and any warning notices are entirely their professional judgement. The system only records and distributes.
Checks without the chasing
The office manages exceptions instead of every property. Tenants book themselves. Records reach the right people on the day. And landlords come back each year because you reminded them first.
Engineers benefit too. Arriving at a property with last year's appliance list already on their phone means they spend their time checking, not rewriting the make and model of every hob and fire.
Letting agents in particular value this. An agent who receives a clean record the day of the visit, without asking, is likely to keep sending you properties.
Does this sound like your landlord work?
- Due dates for landlord properties are in a spreadsheet.
- Arranging tenant access takes several calls.
- Records are written up after the visit.
- Landlords and agents ask for copies you've already sent.
- Landlords drift to other engineers when you don't remind them.