What is the purpose of Healthy Homes Inspect for property managers?
The purpose of a Healthy Home Evaluation process is to provide you with a simple way to process and manage the Healthy Homes standard requirements for your rental portfolio. It allows you to help guide and support your landlords by offering them an opportunity to navigate through the compliance process.
We supply you with customised email invitations that you send to your landlords that recommend the Healthy Homes Evaluation report. Based on the landlords response, a report will be ordered or declined and the decision will be recorded within an online portal (Maintenance Manager). Once the report has been completed, any action items will appear in Maintenance Manager giving you or the landlord the ability to workflow the rectification works to ensure the property becomes compliant. Once works are marked as completed and verified a Certificate of Compliance and Section 13A Statement will be issued to the landlord and copies will be recorded in Maintenance Manager.
Also, you and your agency are able to mitigate risk by merely recommending the services to your clients, regardless of response.
What is the invitation process?
An invitation template and send process is reviewed and approved by the agency representative for either opt-in or opt-out model.
Who is the Healthy Homes Evaluation invitation from?
The invitation email is from YOU in your name, with your email stationary and sent via Maintenance Manager. You are personally recommending the service to your owners. There is a link in that email for the owners to accept or decline the invitation. If an owner calls or emails you, it is important that you do not discourage them from accepting the offer as it is in their best interest to ensure that their investment property complies with the Healthy Home Standards, sooner rather than later. Experience tells us that when you are not committed to the concept it will confuse owners. Simply saying “It’s a great idea although you don’t have to do it” will help and then offer to accept or decline on their behalf (following the procedure below). Referring them to the Landlord FAQs in their invitation email will also usually answers all their questions or concerns.
What is the order process?
Owners can order a report via the email invitation sent by PropertSafe or the Property Manager can order on behalf of the owner in MMgr. Once an order for a report is confirmed, an email is generated and sent to the owner and relevant Property Manager. Once the order is then allocated to an inspector by PropertySafe, an email is generated and sent to the tenant informing them an inspector will be in contact to arrange an appropriate date and time for the inspection.
How do I accept or decline the invitation on the owner's behalf in Maintenance Manager?
If an owner calls you by phone or gives you a direction via reply email in your Notes Received (having not utilised the links in the invitation) you can ask them to utilise the link in the email you sent them OR you can accept or decline on their behalf by going to your MMgr Dashboard – search and find the property – click on the “Purchase” tab at centre and approve or decline as per their instructions remembering to make a note of how they contacted you and what they said.
What is the scheduling process?
The Healthy Homes Inspector contacts tenant via phone or SMS to arrange an appropriate time for the inspection. If the tenant is non-responsive to the inspector, the Property Manager is informed and inspector arranges the key collection / return procedure with the agency. When the inspector schedules the inspection, an email confirmation is sent to both the owner and tenant detailing the inspection date and time.
What happens once an inspection has been completed?
Once an inspection and report is completed, a copy of the report is uploaded to the property in MMgr and owner emailed a copy. Invoice for the job is raised and placed in MMgr for approval and payment by the Property Manager.
What happens if the property is compliant?
A Compliance Certificate is created and uploaded to the property in MMgr and emailed to the owner for their records
What happens if the property is NOT compliant?
All non- compliant issues outlined in owner portal and against Property in MMgr with actions for the Property Manager. Owners and Trade Suppliers have the ability to resolve issues to compliant with evidence via their respective portals when the work has been completed and/or certificate uploaded. Alternatively, Property Managers can supply evidence of compliance to PropertySafe to resolve to compliant. When all issues are resolved, the compliance certificate is uploaded to the property in MMgr and owner emailed a copy.
What evidence is required for compliance?
Insulation: Certifcate, invoice and/or statement from the contractor detailing R-value, thickness and type.
Heating: Invoice and/or statement from the contractor detailing (combined or total) kW rating and type(s) of device.
Note: Must be in excess of the required kW rating.
Exhaust Fans: Invoice, description and/or statement from the trade supplier detailing ducting diameter or exhaust capacity.
Drainage/Moisture: Barrier certifcate, invoice, work description and/or statement from the contractor detailing square meters of placement and type. For gutters and downpipe issues, invoice, work description photos and/or statement detailing the work completed and location(s).
Draught stopping: Invoice, description, photos and/or statement from the contractor detailing product used and location(s).
How do I appease owner concerns?
If you receive a phone call or email from an owner asking if the offer is legitimate (spam) or unhappy with receiving any emails about recommended services we suggest you reply with the below words or similar.
“We sincerely value you as a client. This recommendation is just a part of the overall risk management options we source for our clients on an annual basis. We believe it’s an easy solution to help ensure you are compliant against the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Home Standards) Regulation 2019. If you do not wish to receive further emails about this, please click on the link in the email to accept or decline the offer or let me know and I will do this on your behalf? I can also permanently exclude you from this offer if you like?”
How do I permanently exclude an owner from receiving invitations?
If you have an owner that has requested to be permanently excluded from all future Healthy Home Evaluation invitations, this can be achieved within Maintenance Manager by bringing up the property, click on the “Settings” tab at right, scroll to “Other”, select “Exclude from PropertySafe invitations”, select the reason then scroll to the bottom of the page and if required select “Apply settings to all Landlord properties” then click “Save Settings”. This will exclude this property from all PropertySafe invitations until deselected. NB: Excluding a property from the invitations may increase the risk to your agency in the event of an injury at this property.
What happens to owners without email addresses?
Within Maintenance Manager – Outbox Pending – Documents to be Sent – there may be some Healthy Home Evaluation invitations needing manual action. These are for owners with missing or incorrect email addresses. You need to either print and post the owners a hard copy version of the invitation or phone the owners so that from a risk management point of view you’ve notified all owners and attempted to receive a direction. These documents can be edited before printing. If an owner without an email address accepts or declines the offer simply follow the accept/decline process. Accepted offers will have their report sent to their postal address imported from your accounting system. Note: Asking the owners for an email address and forwarding to us will expedite the process.
How do I see who has accepted or declined the invitation?
The MMgr dashboard will display how many properties have been invited, not yet sent, are compliant and not compliant. This gives you complete transparency and real time information about the compliance status of your rental portfolio. You can click on each status and see further information.
How do I cancel an order?
If you receive communication from an owner that no longer requires an ordered report you can cancel the order in MMgr at any time up until commencement of the inspection. Go to the property address in MMgr select the “PropertySafe Inspections” tab and select “Cancel”. Place a comment regarding the reason for the cancellation and then automatic emails will be sent to the owner, tenant and inspector confirming the cancellation.
Is there a discount offered for multiple reports?
2-4 properties – 10% discount
NB: Please contact us immediately after an order to receive this discount. If this contact is not made before the completion of the reports no discount will be applied.
Each leased residence requires an individually completed and insured report. If an order is for 2-4 residences within the same region or building e.g. both sides of a duplex, 4 units in a building or 3 homes in the same or neighbouring suburbs, a 10% discount is available per report. To obtain this discount contact us immediately after an order is placed (inspections@propertysafe.co.
5 or more properties – 15% discount
NB: Please contact us immediately after an order to receive this discount. If this contact is not made before the completion of the reports no discount will be applied.
Each leased residence requires an individually completed and insured report. If an order is for 5 or more residences within the same region or building a 15% discount is available per report. To obtain this discount contact us immediately after an order is placed (inspections@propertysafe.co.
Granny Flat with separate lease 50% discount
NB: Please contact us immediately after an order to receive this discount. If this contact is not made before the completion of the reports no discount will be applied.
Each leased residence requires an individually completed and insured report. If an order is placed for both the main house and associated granny flat a 50% discount is available for just the flat provided access is supplied to both dwellings for the same day and time by the property owner/manager. To obtain this discount contact us immediately after the order is placed (inspections@propertysafe.co.
Share accommodation with individual leases 80% discount
NB: Please contact us immediately after an order to receive this discount. If this contact is not made before the completion of the reports no discount will be applied.
Each leased residence requires an individually completed and insured report. When there is 1 building with multiple rooms individually leased e.g. share accommodation or studio apartments, full fee is required for room 1 and the common areas as per our scope and a further 80% discount is offered for each remaining room provided access is supplied to all rooms at the same day and time by the property owner/manager. To obtain this discount contact us immediately after an order is placed (inspections@propertysafe.co.
What does the Healthy Homes Evaluation report look like?
Click HERE to see a SAMPLE Healthy Homes Evaluation report.
What's included in the Healthy Homes Evaluation Report (the scope)?
For a full list of all the items contained within the report please see our SCOPE
How many follow up invitations are sent?
There will be 3 sends to owners, an initial send and then 2 further friendly follow-up emails over the following weeks. These follow-up emails are only sent to those that have not responded with an acceptance or decline. A decline or accept via the link in the email at any time is a virtual unsubscribe from the offer. The property manager can also accept or decline the offer via the property in MMgr.
Is this a compliance report?
Yes. The result from the inspection will deem a property compliant or non-compliant as per the Healthy Homes Standards. The report will state what has not meet the requirements and provide solutions to resolve. Once rectification works have been completed, evidence supplied and validated, a Compliance Certificate and Section 13A Statement will be issued to the landlord and also stored against the property record within MMgr.
Are the inspectors qualified and insured?
Yes, every inspector must adhere to the following:
- Have nationally recognised qualifications in “Building” with at least Low Rise, Carpentry and/or a Building Inspection diploma/certification.
- Completed and clear a national police check.
- Complete the PropertySafe Certification requirements being:
- Successfully completed over 40 hours of on-line education via R.T.O. Novaskil (individual certificate available on request).
- Competently completed over 100 hours infield training, supervision and assessment.
- Agreed to the PropertySafe Inspector Code of Conduct (copy available on request).
- Have current certified Professional Indemnity insurance $5,000,000 any one Claim and $10,000,000 in the aggregate.
- Have current Public Liability insurance $5,000,000
How are Entry Notices managed?
The inspector will endeavour to contact the tenants to arrange a mutually agreeable time to complete the inspection. If there have been 3 unresponsive attempts to arrange a day and time with the tenants, the inspector will utilise the Entry Notice capability within MMgr to send an entry notice with at least 48 hours notice in the name of the agency. The only exception to this procedure is when the inspector is travelling to a remote location to complete at least 3 days of inspections. In this instance entry notices will be sent regardless of contact with the tenants. The agency can remove the inspector’s opportunity to send entry notices within MMgr via the Tools – Global settings – General settings. If the ability for the inspector to send Entry Notices is removed the Property Manager will be asked to send entry notices on the inspector’s behalf.
How are invoices and payments arranged?
When the owner accepts the invitation from the link in the email it takes them to a page where they give permission for you the Property Management Service to pay the cost of the report from their trust account. Your office will receive an invoice soon after completion via MMgr in “Invoice Approvals”.
What should I do with bounced emails?
If you receive any bounced emails saying that the address had failed, then you will need to contact the owner to get their correct address and then inform us so we can resend the offer.
What happens if a previous client receives an invitation?
If you receive communication from an owner who is no longer a client it is likely there has been an import issue that requires deactivation of the property. Please see the guide here.
How long will the inspection take?
The inspector is usually on-site for between 45 minutes and 1 hour.