The maintenance calendar of a rented flat
What has to be done yearly, every few years, and at every tenant change — with the intervals, and what happens if you skip them.
Most landlords do maintenance the same way: something breaks, they fix it. That is the most expensive order of operations. A boiler service costs a fraction of a boiler; a chimney inspection costs a fraction of an insurance claim that gets denied. Below is the calendar that keeps a flat out of that pattern — and the honest reason behind each item.
Every year
- Boiler service. Not optional: most manufacturers void the warranty without an annual service record, and insurers ask for it after a water or gas incident. Keep the sticker and the invoice.
- Chimney inspection. Where a flue exists, this is usually a legal obligation, not a recommendation — and the certificate is what an insurer wants to see.
- Insurance review. Not just renewal: check the sum insured. A policy written five years ago rarely covers what rebuilding costs today.
- Smoke detector battery. Two minutes. The cheapest item on this list by a wide margin.
Every few years
- Air conditioning service (1–2 years). A clogged filter raises the electricity bill before it breaks anything.
- Gutters and roof (yearly in autumn, roof every 2–3 years). Water damage from a blocked gutter is slow, invisible and expensive.
- Silicone in the bathroom (3–5 years). Cracked silicone is how water gets behind the tiles, and how the flat below finds out first.
- Repaint (5–8 years, or at a tenant change). Cheaper than the deposit argument it prevents.
At every tenant change
- Meter readings with the date. Photograph the meter, write down the number and the day. The consumption between two dates is what settles every later argument.
- Condition record with photos. Ten photos at handover are worth more than any clause about "normal wear".
- Keys, locks, codes. Note what was handed over, and whether the lock was changed.
Why writing it down matters more than the schedule
Every item above is only worth something if you can prove it happened. Two years later nobody remembers which company serviced the boiler, or whether the chimney sweep came in March or November. The moment it matters — an insurance claim, a dispute with a tenant, a buyer asking questions — memory is not evidence.
This is exactly what a property logbook is for: what happened, when, who did it, what it cost, with the invoice attached. Housefolio keeps that record, schedules these reminders from the appliances you add, and lets the contractor fill in their own work through a link — no app, no registration on their side.
Nothing here is legal advice: obligations differ by country and by building. Treat the list as the starting point of your own calendar, not as a regulation.