subject: How To Reduce Your Property Maintenance Costs [print this page] As most people who venture out to buy property in Pune sooner or later discover, property maintenance is one of the famous 'hidden costs' of property ownership. It is an area of expense that becomes evident only after you've owned your property for a while. Recurring property maintenance expenses can rise astronomically if your flat is not well looked after. As a building ages, these are bound to increase even further.
If you live in one of the many housing societies that practically define residential properties in Pune, there is obviously no point in trying to maintain only your flat. It is the building's overall condition that matters here, both for you and other flat owners. In a great number of cases, property maintenance undertaken by the housing society's administrative body is symptomatic - this means that problems are tackled only as and when they arise.
Fortunately for Pune property buyers who have purchased flats in township properties rather than housing societies, property maintenance costs are not a serious issue. Township properties have to conform to standard requirements, of which facilities management is a vital component.
Facilities management ensures that the maintenance of individual flats in township properties is handled cost-effectively due the efficiency of scale. There are excellent township properties being built by reputed developers in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation.
Optimizing Property Maintenance Funds
Most of those who own property in Pune are bound by the parameters laid down by housing societies. A majority of housing society offices have a separate fund for maintenance towards which all property owners contribute - however, there is a lot of scope for misappropriation if regular account are not kept and submitted to members of the Society. Ensuring that proper preventive maintenance is undertaken is therefore a collective job of all flat owners.
You can take the initiative in preventing future property maintenance expenses for yourself and other flat owners in your housing society. The first step in this direction is to identify the most problem-prone areas within your apartment building. To do this, the best thing you and other flat owners can do is to order an inspection of the premises by a qualified agency. The problem areas must be identified, and appropriate remedies must be established.
If you and other flat owners feel that the housing society is not sincere in its efforts and that property maintenance will become a major issue, it is advisable to pass a resolution that the maintenance of the premises be entrusted to a professional agency under an annual contract. This will ensure that money meant for the purpose of building upkeep is accounted for, and is being utilized for its intended purposes.
Troubleshooting Areas In Property Maintenance
For your general information, you should know what factors might come into question:
* Water and weather conditions are the #1 and #2 contributing factors towards a building's wear, tear and degeneration. Uncontrolled water problems can ruin a building right from its very foundation upwards. It must be establish whether the premises have proper arrangements for the draining away of surplus water in the rainy season.
* Also, the building's general drainage system must be checked to find out whether water leakage from individual flats or the main tanks is weakening the structure. This can especially happen if there is constant overflow of incoming water due to faulty flow regulators. If this is found to be the case, steps must be taken to repair the damaged appliances and waterproof such areas to prevent future damage.
* Missing windowpanes and cheap caulking in individual flats are not problems affecting those flat owners alone - they can also cause the overall structure to weather faster than usual. If a flat or common property has missing windowpanes, replacing these should be made mandatory. Remember that excessive air circulation, moisture and sunlight can cause atmospheric changes throughout the building.
* External paint serves a greater purpose than merely that of aesthetics - the right kind of cement pain on a building's outer walls prevents the weathering and aging of cement. If your landlord has not had a good layer of external paint applied, you can reasonably expect that future expenses towards troubleshooting will rise considerably.
A few basic prophylactic measures can go a long way in eventual savings on these property maintenance expenses. Prevention is definitely better than a costly cure.
