We recently had a series of property inspections by Stephen Foster of Chelmsford Borough Council who is an Environmental Health Officer in the Private Sector Housing Team.

The inspections consisted of looking at a number of different aspects of the property such as the number and quality of facilities on offer for tenants to use, room sizes, ratio of tenants to bathrooms, fire doors, smoke alarms and protection of means of escape routes. The fire safety aspects are always a major concern for tenants and landlords and there are a number of requirements to be met to meet their rules and regulations.

Across the portfolio we have a number of small improvements to make to the properties but generally they were found to be well looked after. This is a quote from the letter we received from the Council.

“I confirm that all of the properties were found to be well managed and maintained and all had sufficient amenities for the number of occupiers. The fire precaution standards were generally satisfactory and there was generally a good degree of compliance and management regulations”.

If you are a tenant looking to rent a room in a property in Chelmsford you should ask the landlord about these sort of issues and whether their property or properties have been inspected by Chelmsford Borough Council. At the end of the day the rules and regulations are put in place to try and protect tenants and ensure that landlords provide good quality accommodation. I completely agree with this and would encourage any landlord to get in touch with the Council and have their properties inspected ASAP. If the worst landlords can be forced out of the market and the general standards raised all round then it is a win-win situation for all involved.

If you are looking for a room to rent in Chelmsford please do get in contact with us ASAP and find out about our current availability.