Why everyday maintenance matters in leasehold buildings
By Louis Hart, Director of Regeneration – Future Group of Companies
Major works often get the most attention, but the long-term condition of a residential building is usually shaped by the smaller decisions made in the years between major projects. Good maintenance is about recognising defects early, protecting existing assets and knowing when repair should become renewal.
Working in regeneration and major works, we are naturally involved when buildings reach the point where more significant intervention is required: external redecorations, communal refurbishments, roofing works, repairs and wider planned projects.
But one thing I have learned is that the condition of a building is rarely determined solely by what happens during those major projects.
It is often determined by what happens in the years between them.
A failed seal, damaged flooring, an overflowing gutter, a small area of water ingress or deterioration to decorated surfaces can all appear fairly insignificant in isolation.
The problem comes when those relatively minor issues are repeatedly overlooked.
Small defects have a habit of becoming bigger ones.
By the time they find their way into a major works specification, what may once have been a straightforward repair can have become a much more expensive problem.
The gap between reactive maintenance and major works
There is sometimes a tendency within residential property to separate day-to-day maintenance and major works into two completely different conversations.
In reality, they should be connected.
The contractor attending a minor leak today may be looking at the early stages of an issue that becomes part of a £100,000 project several years later.
That does not mean every repair needs a surveyor, a specification and a major investigation. It means the information gathered through everyday maintenance has value.
If the same roof is being repaired repeatedly, the question eventually has to change from:
“How do we repair this?”
to:
“Is continuing to repair this still the right decision?”
Equally, one isolated failure does not necessarily mean an entire asset needs replacing.
That judgement is where good property management, good surveying and good contracting need to come together.
Repair it while it is still a repair
Water ingress is probably one of the clearest examples.
A relatively small failure to a roof covering, flashing, seal or junction can often be dealt with reasonably simply when identified early.
Leave it unresolved and water starts travelling.
Internal finishes become damaged. Timber or insulation can be affected. Adjoining areas may require investigation and suddenly the cost and disruption are completely disproportionate to the original defect.
We see the same principle throughout residential blocks.
Damaged flooring continues to deteriorate under footfall. Failed sealant allows moisture into areas that should remain protected. Small areas of decoration break down and expose the substrate beneath.
The sensible approach is not to replace everything at the first sign of deterioration.
It is to understand what you are looking at.
Some defects need immediate action. Some can be monitored. Some should be recorded and incorporated into future planned works.
The important thing is that somebody is joining those dots.
Maintenance should protect the asset
For me, good maintenance is not simply about fixing something once it has broken.
It should help delay the point at which it needs replacing.
Take communal carpets.
They are subjected to constant traffic, dirt, moisture and general wear. Regular professional cleaning will obviously not make them last forever, but looking after them properly can materially improve their condition and potentially extend their useful life.
The same applies across a building.
Keeping gutters and drainage routes clear can reduce water-related problems. Cleaning external surfaces can slow deterioration. Addressing localised decoration failures can prevent them becoming widespread.
Routine inspections can identify problems before residents are reporting water coming through ceilings.
There is an important distinction between an asset reaching the genuine end of its life and an asset needing premature replacement because nobody looked after it properly.
From a leaseholder’s perspective, that distinction matters.
Spend money at the right time
There is an understandable temptation to focus purely on keeping today’s expenditure down.
Sometimes that is absolutely the right decision.
But the cheapest repair today is not always the cheapest solution over five years.
Likewise, replacing an entire asset when a sensible repair could provide several more years of service is not necessarily good value either.
Good asset management sits somewhere between those two extremes.
The aim should be to get the greatest reasonable life from the building while recognising when further repair stops making commercial sense.
If repeated repairs are becoming more frequent or increasingly expensive, that is usually the point where the wider cost needs to be considered.
The question is no longer simply whether something can be repaired.
It is whether repairing it again represents the best use of the available budget.
Major works should not arrive as a surprise
This is where everyday maintenance connects directly with long-term planning and reserve funds.
Most substantial projects do not suddenly appear from nowhere.
Buildings usually give plenty of warning.
Decoration begins deteriorating. Roofing repairs become more frequent. Flooring reaches the end of its life. External components start requiring increasing attention.
Good records allow managing agents, surveyors and contractors to see that picture developing.
If we know that a significant element of a building is likely to require major expenditure within three, five or ten years, there is an opportunity to prepare for it.
Budgets can be considered. Reserve or sinking fund positions can be reviewed where applicable. Specifications can be developed properly. Leaseholders can be consulted. Works can be programmed rather than commissioned in response to an emergency.
Nobody can predict the future cost of maintaining a building perfectly.
Prices change, buildings behave differently and unexpected defects will always occur.
The objective is not perfect prediction.
It is visibility.
Looking after the building as a whole
One of the biggest lessons from working across both maintenance and major works is that buildings rarely fail in isolation.
Individual defects may seem unrelated, but maintenance history often tells a wider story.
Repeated leaks, recurring decoration failures, damaged finishes or ongoing issues with the same part of a building can all provide useful information about how that asset is performing over time.
The value comes from keeping that information visible rather than treating every repair as a standalone job.
When maintenance records, condition information and planned works are considered together, it becomes easier to identify patterns, establish priorities and understand where future investment may be needed.
It also creates a much clearer basis for conversations between managing agents, surveyors, contractors and leaseholders.
For me, that is the real purpose of good maintenance.
Not simply keeping a building going today, but creating the information needed to make better decisions about what it will need tomorrow.
Louis Hart
Director of Regeneration
Future Group of Companies
