Landlord & Commercial Plumbing Folkestone | Maintenance Contracts

Landlord and commercial plumbing in Folkestone

Managing property means plumbing is never the job you had planned for that day. It arrives as a tenant call at five o'clock on a Friday, or a leak in a flat above a shop that is now everyone's problem.

What you want is someone who deals with the tenant directly, keeps the compliance dates from lapsing, and invoices in a way your accountant does not query. We work with landlords, letting agents and commercial premises across Folkestone, Hythe and the surrounding Kent villages.

For landlords and letting agents

Compliance scheduling. We track gas safety certificate expiry across your portfolio and contact you before renewal is due, so a certificate never lapses because a date slipped down a spreadsheet. See landlord gas safety certificates.

Direct tenant contact. With your authorisation we arrange access with the tenant ourselves. You get a message when it is booked and an invoice when it is done, rather than spending an afternoon relaying availability between two people who could have spoken directly.

Priority response. Contract properties go to the front of the queue. Same day attendance for genuine emergencies, next day for everything else.

Written reports. Where a tenant reports a fault that turns out to be misuse rather than wear, you get that in writing. It matters at deposit time and it is very difficult to argue after the fact without it.

Void property work. Between tenancies, when access is easy and disruption is nil. Systems drained down over winter voids, refilled and checked before the next tenancy begins.

Where landlord costs actually go

Not on the big jobs. On the repeat callouts that were never diagnosed properly.

A running toilet reported three times by three different tenants. A boiler topped up every month because nobody looked for the leak. A drain rodded twice a year for five years when a camera would have found the defect on the first visit.

Each of those looks cheap individually and none of them ever gets fixed, because reactive maintenance has no memory. We keep a record per property, which means the second time something recurs we already know the history and can say plainly whether it needs solving rather than clearing again.

See CCTV drain surveys and why your boiler keeps losing pressure.

Maintenance contracts

Annual cover per property, including a gas safety certificate, a boiler service, and a full plumbing inspection covering the stopcock, isolating valves, visible pipework, taps, toilets and cylinder.

Callouts are charged at contract rates with no out of hours premium, and contract properties get priority scheduling. Portfolio rates available from five properties.

The inspection is the part that pays for itself. Perished flexible hoses, a stopcock that will not turn, a cylinder thermostat set wrong, an unlagged pipe in a loft. All small, all found in twenty minutes, all considerably cheaper than what they turn into. See our annual plumbing maintenance checklist and how to spot a failing flexible hose.

"Daimon has completed several jobs for me over the years. He is reliable, a tidy workman and his work is top quality and always has a professional finish."

Anthony Bradley, Google review

Empty and seasonal property

Unoccupied property is where the expensive claims come from, because a burst pipe runs for days before anyone finds it.

That is a real consideration for the holiday lets and second homes across Romney Marsh at Dymchurch and New Romney, and for anyone with a property standing empty between tenancies over winter.

Either drain the system down or keep frost protection running. We carry out scheduled void checks so somebody is actually looking at the property rather than assuming. See how to prevent water damage while away, preventing frozen pipes and burst pipe repair.

Legionella risk assessment

Landlords have a duty under health and safety law to assess and control Legionella risk in rented property. For a typical domestic let this is a straightforward assessment rather than the elaborate exercise some firms sell it as.

The risk factors are stored water sitting below 60 degrees, cold water above 20, infrequently used outlets, and debris in tanks. Most properties need the cylinder thermostat set correctly, tanks lidded and clean, dead legs removed, and a note that outlets should be flushed after any void period.

Seasonal lets carry more risk than permanently occupied property, precisely because outlets stand unused for weeks. We carry out the assessment and provide the written record. See hot water cylinders and unvented cylinder servicing.

Commercial premises

We work with pubs, cafes, restaurants, guest houses, holiday lets, shops, offices, care homes and village halls across the area.

Commercial work has different priorities from domestic. Downtime costs money, so we schedule around opening hours and work early or overnight where the job allows. Compliance is stricter, with commercial catering gas requiring specific competencies and ventilation interlock testing. And invoicing has to work for a business, with account terms available and purchase order references carried through to the invoice.

Commercial kitchens

The recurring issue in every food business is grease.

Fat goes down warm, cools in the pipe run and builds in layers until the waste backs up, usually at the worst possible moment. Domestic advice about running hot water afterwards does not scale to a commercial kitchen.

Scheduled jetting on a quarterly cycle costs less over a year than the emergency callouts it prevents, and it does not close you for a lunchtime service. See drain cleaning and blocked drains.

Planned beats reactive, and the numbers say so

A booked programme of servicing, inspection and descaling costs less across a year than the emergency work it prevents. That is true for a portfolio of ten flats and it is more true for a pub.

Reactive maintenance also costs you things that never appear on an invoice: the tenant who leaves because the shower has been weak for six months, the lunchtime you closed, the review someone wrote about the cold room.

"Couldn't get one of our own plumbers out to a customer, so we contacted Plumbing and Central Heating Hythe Ltd and spoke with Damien. He attended the property the very same day to assist our customer and provided an excellent service. Really appreciated the quick response and willingness to help."

SwiftFix247, Google review

Off grid lets

Properties around Lyminge, Elham and Sellindge frequently run on oil or LPG. LPG carries the same annual gas safety obligation as mains gas. Oil does not, but servicing is still expected under your repairing obligations and insurers will ask. See oil and LPG boilers.

Where we work

Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate, Seabrook, Saltwood, Hawkinge, Capel-le-Ferne, Lympne, Lyminge, Elham, Sellindge, Dymchurch, New Romney, Dover and Ashford.

Dover in particular has a large private rented sector, and Folkestone and Hythe between them carry a considerable number of converted flats where shared stacks and supplies raise the question of whose pipework a fault sits on. We are used to establishing that before anyone commits to paying.

Common questions

Will you deal with my tenants directly? Yes, with your authorisation. You get updated when it is booked and invoiced when it is done.

Do you offer account terms? Yes for commercial customers and portfolio landlords.

How many properties before contract rates apply? Five.

Can you handle out of hours for a commercial site? Yes, and for many businesses early morning or overnight is the sensible option anyway.

Do you cover HMOs? Yes, including the additional compliance that comes with them.

What if a tenant refuses access for a gas safety check? We document every attempted visit and appointment offered and give you that record, which is the evidence of reasonable steps you would need.

Call +44 7915 255984 to discuss a maintenance contract in Folkestone.