How to create a property maintenance schedule

The same method suits a single home, a portfolio of rental properties or a commercial building; the difference is mainly in how many items there are and who is responsible for them.

1. 1

   List what needs maintaining

   Walk the property, system by system: heating and hot water, electrical, water, roof and drainage, ventilation, doors and windows, safety devices, grounds and anything specialised. Include the equipment in each room. If you already have a list of installed equipment, start there.

2. 2

   Decide how often each item needs attention

   Use the manufacturer’s instructions, the installer’s or engineer’s advice and your own experience. Where a frequency is set by regulation, take it from the official guidance (see the section on regulated checks). Do not copy a generic table: a frequency that suits one building may not suit another.

3. 3

   Set the next due date

   Every item needs a date, not just a frequency. Decide whether it repeats from the calendar (every January) or from the last time it was actually done (twelve months after the last service). For annual servicing the second is often more realistic.

4. 4

   Say who is responsible

   Where you know, name the person or provider responsible for arranging and carrying out the work. On a rented or shared building, make clear whether that is the owner, the tenant or a managing agent.

5. 5

   Record each completion

   When work is done, record the date, who did it, what was done, the cost and anything found. Then set the next due date from that. Keep completed entries; they are the property’s history.

6. 6

   Attach the evidence

   File the invoice, service report, certificate or photos with the entry they belong to, not in a separate folder. A due date is far more useful with the last report one click away.

7. 7

   Review the schedule

   Once or twice a year, check the schedule against the property. Remove items that have gone, add new equipment, and adjust frequencies where experience shows they were wrong.

A schedule is a table of items with dates. The entries below are illustrative only: the frequencies are placeholders to show the layout, not recommendations.

There is no universal maintenance frequency. Two kinds of item are worth separating:

• Frequencies you choose. Gutter clearing, repainting, filter changes and most routine checks depend on the building, the equipment and your own judgement.
• Frequencies set or influenced by rules. Some checks have a fixed interval or a duty to assess, depending on the equipment, the property and the nation. For example, HSE guidance says landlords must have gas appliances checked annually, and that the Electricity at Work Regulations do not set a single test frequency for every case, leaving it to the dutyholder’s risk assessment.

Items will slip. What matters is that the schedule shows it and you respond.

• Make overdue items visible: a clear status such as upcoming, due soon, due and overdue, rather than a date that quietly passes.
• Work out why it slipped: no one was responsible, the provider was unavailable, or the frequency was unrealistic.
• Rebook, reassign or adjust the plan, and note the reason so the history is honest.
• Prioritise by consequence: safety-related and system-critical items before cosmetic ones.
• When it is finally done, record the actual completion date, not the original due date, and set the next one from that.

For a fuller view of what to inspect in a commercial building, see the commercial property maintenance checklist. For a home, see home maintenance record: what to keep and how.