80% of maintenance calls happen out-of-hours
60% of landlords do not have out-of-hours management cover, despite 80% of maintenance calls coming out-of-hours
The latest research by Adiuvo reveals the UK’s leading provider of 24/7 property management solutions, reveals that almost 60% of UK landlords do not have out-of-hours cover in place for maintenance, management, or emergencies.
Adiuvo’s surveyed UK landlords* to see what proportion of the market currently has out-of-hours property management cover in place, and found that only one third (33%) have full, comprehensive cover, and 10% have partial cover limited to certain hours of the day.
This leaves almost 60% (57%) who have no cover at all.
Among those who do have some sort of out-of-hours cover, 61% receive it from their managing or letting agent, 34% have an agreement with a personal contractor, and just 6% make use of a specialist out-of-hours service provider.
As for those landlords who don’t have any cover, when asked why, the most common answer (59%) was that they prefer to handle issues themselves, even if that means being called out at 3am to deal with who knows what kind of unexpected, even harrowing problems their tenant is having.
A further 29% simply don’t think out-of-hours cover is necessary, 12% say it’s too expensive, and 2% say they haven’t been able to find a decent provider.
More than 80% of calls coming out-of-hours
The fact that almost 60% of landlords are still operating without out-of-hours cover is particularly striking when you consider just how many tenant calls come through outside of typical office hours.
In 2024, Adiuvo handled almost 226,000 property management and maintenance calls, a staggering 183,752 of which came out-of-hours*. This means landlords without cover risk missing 81.3% of all calls coming in from their tenants, any number of which could be serious emergencies that require immediate attention.
Colin Stokes, Founder and MD of Adiuvo, commented:
“There are an awful lot of landlords out there who don’t yet have out-of-hours cover, and this leaves them exposed to unremediated late-night issues in their properties which can destroy their relationship with their tenants, and even lead to expensive property damage.
Even just a small problem, such as a minor leak, can quickly become a major issue if not addressed quickly. And to avoid this, any landlord without cover is having to drag themselves out of bed or away from their family to deal with the situation.
At Adiuvo, over 80% of the calls we handle are coming in out-of-hours, so it’s clear that the vast majority of a property manager’s work happens outside of your normal office hours. Perhaps that’s why our survey has also shown that 93% of landlords who do have cover say the service they provide is effective, while 86% are happy with the amount of money they are investing into making sure they have adequate cover.”
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