Post Winter Checks: The insurance risks landlords should review before Spring

Winter takes its toll on properties everywhere, and in many cases, the signs of this aren’t always immediately overt. As temperatures begin to climb after persistent cold, frost, rain and condensation, it’s important to assess the damage, and for landlords in the UK, this should involve more than just a quick sanity check for anything visible.

The weeks between late winter and early spring represent the most opportune time to carry out a thorough review of your rental property or properties, and to address anything that could transpire into a costly insurance claim down the line. Leave these problems to manifest for too long and they could even escalate into full-blown legal liabilities, putting you in a tricky financial position.

Here is a practical guide to the most important rental property checks to carry out, and why they should be firmly on your spring to-do list.

Check roofs and gutters for water ingress

Roof damage can be a common cause of landlord insurance claims, and the telltale signs of damage can range from loose tiles and cracked flashings to withering felt which can easily be overlooked in winter. Reviewing the following areas provides good cover of potential issues:

• Tiles: Even one single tile missing from a roof edge can allow water to penetrate insulation and joists, which can lead to disruptive and expensive structural damp. Check any that have slipped, cracked or are missing.
• Flashing: Ensure the lead work around chimneys isn’t pulled away or showing signs of mortar decay. Winter winds and thermal expansion can cause lead to lift, creating a direct channel for water to bypass roof tiles and move directly to internal roof timbers instead. Catching this early prevents major structural damp that may not be claimable if deemed as ‘gradual deterioration’.
• Gutters: Being prone to an abundance of accrued debris from fallen leaves, followed by repeated freezing and thawing cycles, such weather exposure can leave gutters cracked, sagging or blocked. Where they overflow, water can be directed into walls and around window frames, rather than safely away from the building.

This illustrates the need for a thorough post-winter inspection, particularly for properties where internal damp or unexplained staining has appeared. In this instance, a professional leak investigation will be necessary to satisfy insurance requirements.Thornton Consulting, specialists in building leak detection and investigation, offers a detailed overview of the types of diagnostic methods used to pinpoint the source of ingress in both commercial and residential buildings.

Review pipes and plumbing

Burst pipe claims spike during cold winters and many of those incidents are only discovered once the freeze has already begun to set in. Pipes in unheated spaces (such as lofts, garages and under-sink cupboards) are particularly vulnerable, where damage can go undetected until water finds its way somewhere communal or immediately visible.

Landlords should check exposed pipework for hairline cracks or signs of stress. Confirm that any lagging is still intact and that nothing has unexpectedly shifted. If your tenants have reported any deviations in water pressure or discolouration during winter, it could point to a burst pipe. Such incidents are typically covered under landlord buildings insurance but only if reasonable maintenance has been carried out.

An important consideration is that the most expensive part of repairing a leak can easily be the cost of tracing it, with the potential need to lift floorboards, strip plasterwork or excavate tiles. When reviewing your spring maintenance, check your policy includes trace and access cover, which will allow you to cover the costs of making good any damage your search incurs alongside any eventual plumbing fix.

Legal duties regarding damp and mould

The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 places a clear duty on landlords to ensure their properties are free from conditions that would make them hazardous to health, and damp and mould are firmly within that category. Winter is the season when condensation and damp are most likely to build up and fester, with the signs abundantly clear by spring. Look for indicators such as:

• Musty odours 
• Black spotting 
• Peeling wallpaper  
• Moisture tracking down walls from ceiling level

Ensuring that bathroom and kitchen extractor fans are working properly is a good start, followed by sealing cracks in external render, re-sealing windows and improving loft ventilation to allow moisture to escape. 

Confirm heating systems and boilers work properly

Most landlords know that a Gas Safe-registered engineer must inspect your rental properties’ boilers every year. The timing of that check can help exponentially; a post-winter service, for example, can be preferable to one commissioned just before the autumn rush, as any wear caused by more frequent use is caught and rectified early. Furthermore, engineers are generally more available and costs can be invariably lower. Malfunctioning water heating systems can become legal issues under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and, as explained by Birketts, landlords must keep these systems in good working order all the time. In the event of such a claim or a complaint, a thorough service history and paper trail ensures you’ve met your obligations.

Other checks: Insulation and alarms

The evolving landscape of minimum EPC standards for rental properties means that insulation has, understandably, become a prominent area of concern for landlords. Inadequate loft or wall insulation makes a property harder to heat, more susceptible to condensation, frozen pipes, and difficult to let to well-informed tenants. For guidance on insulation standards and options available to landlords, the National Insulation Association provides a range of resources aimed at building or property owners looking to improve thermal performance. 

Landlords in England are also required to install a smoke alarm on each storey of a rental property, together with a carbon monoxide detector in every room containing fixed combustion appliances. All alarms should be in good working order at the start of every new tenancy, but an additional spring check is good hygiene anyway, even if they were tested before winter.  

Carbon monoxide is invisible and odourless, and can point to faulty boilers, gas fires or blocked flues, which all undergo heavier usage in winter. Aico, one of the UK’s leading alarm manufacturers, publishes guidance on appropriate testing intervals, placements, and compliance requirements for landlords, advising how it’s important to view this as more than just a tick-box exercise.

Why Spring checks matter for your insurance cover

Landlord insurance policies typically mandate that policyholders should maintain their property in a reasonable condition. Neglecting routine checks or ignoring known issues can give insurers grounds to reduce or even refuse claims. The outcome of accidents will largely depend on what evidence there is to confirm the level of maintenance carried out.  

Spring checks, therefore, are both practically and financially beneficial. They reduce the likelihood and severity of damage, while demonstrating a strong standard of care from the policyholder, which is critical should you ever need to claim on your policy.  

That said, reviewing your cover alongside your checks makes good sense, so ensure: 

• Any incumbent policy reflects the current rebuild and upkeep costs of the property
• There is adequate cover for loss of rent
• If any exclusions apply to risks that winter may have unintentionally exposed 

Post-winter review checks don’t need to be elaborate, but rather a set of specific, targeted evaluations that prompt follow-up action on anything urgent. These will put most landlords in a far stronger position legally, financially and as a provider of safe housing.