Keeping a home
Bringing a house back takes months. Keeping it takes decades, and most of keeping is a calendar: things checked every year, every five years and every season, and things put right when the household tells us they have failed.
The gas, before the heating comes on
Every gas appliance, fitting and flue in a home we keep is checked once a year by a Gas Safe registered engineer, as regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 requires, and the household is given a copy of the result. We book it for September or October, before the heating season, and have the boiler serviced on the same visit so the house goes into winter with both done.
The wiring, inspected and tested
The fixed electrical installation — the consumer unit, the circuits, the sockets and switches — is inspected and tested at least every five years by a qualified and competent person, under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020. The household gets the report, and anything it marks as needing work is put right.
Alarms on every storey
A smoke alarm on every storey that has a room lived in. A carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance other than a gas cooker. Both checked working on the day a tenancy starts, and any alarm reported as faulty repaired or replaced as soon as reasonably practicable. That is what the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Regulations ask, as amended in 2022, and it is the least a kept house should have.
The seasonal round
A solid-walled terrace behaves differently through the year, and the jobs follow it.
- November to February
- Condensation season: windows shut, washing dried indoors, walls at their coldest. Pipes protected against frost. Inside work only; lime work outside waits for frost-free weather.
- March to May
- Gutters and gullies cleared after the winter. Outside repairs start again and walls begin to dry.
- June to August
- The dry, warm months for outside work: joints in walls, paint, window joinery, chimneys.
- September and October
- The gas check and boiler service before the heating comes on. Leaves out of the gutters. Vents checked open.
How a repair reaches us
Write to homes@ilannest.space. Say what has failed and where in the house, and attach a photograph if you can. We answer from the company’s own address, say when someone will come, and check afterwards that the repair has held. An email is enough; there is nothing to sign up to.
Some things come first whatever else is waiting: water coming in or leaking, no heating or no hot water in cold weather, an alarm that has failed, and anything electrical that sparks, trips again and again or smells hot.
Rules on the way
Several changes for privately rented homes in England have been announced but are not in force yet. Each is listed with its status as announced; as each comes into force, every home we keep is brought under it.
| What | What it will ask | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Private rented sector database | each rented home put on a national database | opens 15 December 2026; homes in the North West between 15 May and 14 August 2027 |
| Landlord ombudsman | membership of a redress scheme | after the database; membership expected to be compulsory from 2028 |
| Decent Homes Standard for private renting | five criteria, one of them free from damp and mould | confirmed; enforced from 2035 |
| A higher energy rating | band C for private rented homes | policy set for 1 October 2030; the law still to be made |
Already in force since 1 May 2026, under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025: assured periodic tenancies as the standard, an end to section 21 notices, and a household’s request to keep a pet properly considered.